THE   DOWNFALL. 


THE,  DOWNFALL 


DEBACLE) 

(  The  Smash-uf) 


BY 


EMILE   ZOLA 


TRANSLATED  BY 

E.    P.    ROBINS 


NEW   YORK 

THE    MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

LONDON:  MACMILLAN  &  Co.,  LTD. 

'  1898 

All  rights  reserved 


-•*      • 


^'^          "V       \ 


COPYRIGHT,  1892,  BY 
CASSELL  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

COPYRIGHT,  1898,  BY 
THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

First  published  elsewhere.     Reprinted  April,  1898 


THE  MERSHON  COMPANY  PRESS, 
RAHWAY,   N.  J. 


THE   DOWNFALL. 

PART  FIRST. 


IN  the  middle  of  the  broad,  fertile  plain  that  stretches  away 
in  the  direction  of  the  Rhine,  a  mile  and  a  quarter  from 
Miilhausen,  the  camp  was  pitched.  In  the  fitful  light  of  the 
overcast  August  day,  beneath  the  lowering  sky  that  was  filled 
with  heavy  drifting  clouds,  the  long  lines  of  squat  white  shelter- 
tents  seemed  to  cower  closer  to  the  ground,  and  the  muskets, 
stacked  at  regular  intervals  along  the  regimental  fronts,  made 
little  spots  of  brightness,  while  over  all  the  sentries  with  loaded 
pieces  kept  watch  and  ward,  motionless  as  statues,  straining 
their  eyes  to  pierce  the  purplish  mists  that  lay  on  the  horizon 
and  showed  where  the  mighty  river  ran. 

It  was  about  five  o'clock  when  they  had  come  in  from  Bel- 
fort  ;  it  was  now  eight,  and  the  men  had  only  just  received 
their  rations.  There  could  be  no  distribution  of  wood,  how- 
ever, the  wagons  having  gone  astray,  and  it  had  therefore  been 
impossible  for  them  to  make  fires  and  warm  their  soup.  They 
had  consequently  been  obliged  to  content  themselves  as  best 
they  might,  washing  down  their  dry  hard-tack  with  copious 
draughts  of  brandy,  a  proceeding  that  was  not  calculated 
greatly  to  help  their  tired  legs  after  their  long  march.  Near 
the  canteen,  however,  behind  the  stacks  of  muskets,  there  were 
two  soldiers  pertinaciously  endeavoring  to  elicit  a  blaze  from  a 
small  pile  of  green  wood,  the  trunks  of  some  small  trees  that 
they  had  chopped  down  with  their  sword-bayonets,  and  that 
were  obstinately  determined  not  to  burn.  The  cloud  of  thick, 
black  smoke,  rising  slowly  in  the  evening  air,  added  to  the 
general  cheerlessness  of  the  scene. 

There  were  but  twelve  thousand  men  there,  all  of  the  7th 


THE   DOWNFALL 


corps  that  the  general, 'Felix  Douay,  had  with  him  at  the  time. 
The  ist  division  had  been  ordered  to  Froeschwiller  the  day 
before  ;  the  3d  was  still  at  Lyons,  and  it  had  been  decided 
to  leave  Belfort  and  hurry  to  the  front  with  the  2d  division, 
the  reserve  artillery,  and  an  incomplete  division  of  cavalry. 
Fires  had  been  seen  at  Lorrach.  The  sous-prefet  at  Schelestadt 
had  sent  a  telegram  announcing  that  the  Prussians  were  pre- 
paring to  pass  the  Rhine  at  Markolsheim.  The  general  did 
not  like  his  unsupported  position  on  the  extreme  right,  where 
he  was  cut  off  from  communication  with  the  other  corps,  and 
his  movement  in  the  direction  of  the  frontier  had  been  accel- 
erated by  the  intelligence  he  had  received  the  day  before  of 
the  disastrous  surprise  at  Wissembourg.  Even  if  he  should 
not  be  called  on  to  face  the  enemy  on  his  own  front,  he  felt 
that  he  was  likely  at  any  moment  to  be  ordered  to  march  to 
the  relief  of  the  ist  corps.  There  must  be  fighting  going  on, 
away  down  the  river  near  Froeschwiller,  on  that  dark  and 
threatening  Saturday,  that  ominous  6th  of  August ;  there  was 
premonition  of  it  in  the  sultry  air,  and  the  stray  puffs  of  wind 
passed  shudderingly  over  the  camp  as  if  fraught  with  tidings 
of  impending  evil.  And  for  two  days  the  division  had  believed 
that  it  was  marching  forth  to  battle  ;  the  men  had  expected  to 
find  the  Prussians  in  their  front,  at  the  termination  of  their 
forced  march  from  Belfort  to  Miilhausen, 

The  day  was  drawing  to  an  end,  and  from  a  remote  corner 
of  the  camp  the  rattling  drums  and  the  shrill  bugles  sounded 
retreat,  the  sound  dying  away  faintly  in  the  distance  on  the 
still  air  rf  evening.  Jean  Macquart,  who  had  been  securing 
the  tent  and  driving  the  pegs  home,  rose  to  his  feet.  When  it 
began  to  be  rumored  that  there  was  to  be  war  he  had  left 
Rognes,  the  scene  of  the  bloody  drama  in  which  he  had  lost 
his  wife  Francoise  and  the  acres  that  she  brought  him  ;  he  had 
re-enlisted  at  the  age  of  thirty-nine,  and  been  assigned  tc 
the  io6th  of  the  line,  of  which  they  were  at  that  time  filling 
up  the  cadres,  with  his  old  rank  of  corporal,  and  there  were 
moments  when  he  could  not  help  wondering  how  it  ever  came 
about  that  he,  who  after  Solferino  had  been  so  glad  to  quit  the 
service  and  cease  endangering  his  own  and  other  people's  lives, 
was  again  wearing  the  capote  of  the  infantry  man.  But  what  is 
a  man  to  do,  when  he  has  neither  trade  nor  calling,  neither 
wife,  house,  nor  home,  and  his  heart  is  heavy  with  mingled 
rage  and  sorrow  ?  As  well  go  and  have  a  shot  at  the  enemy,  if 
they  come  where  they  are  not  wanted.  And  he  remembered 


THE    DOWNFALL  3 

his  old  battle  cry  :  Ah  !  bon  sang!  if  he  had  no  longer  heart 
for  honest  toil,  he  would  go  and  'defend  her,  his  country,  the 
old  land  of  France  !  ^ 

When  Jean  was  on  his  legs  he  cast  a  look  about  the  camp, 
where  the  summons  of  the  drums  and  bugles,  taken  up  by  one 
command  after  another,  produced  a  momentary  bustle,  the 
conclusion  of  the  business  of  the  day.  Some  men  were  run- 
ning to  take  their  places  in  the  ranks,  while  others,  already 
half  asleep,  arose  and  stretched  their  stiff  limbs  with  an  air  of 
exasperated  weariness.  He  stood  waiting  patiently  for  roll- 
call,  with  that  cheerful  imperturbability  and  determination  to 
make  the  best  of  everything  that  made  him  the  good  soldier 
that  he  was.  His  comrades  were  accustomed  to  say  of  him 
that  if  he  had  only  had  education  he  would  have  made  his 
mark.  He  could  just  barely  read  and  write,  and  his  aspira- 
tions did  not  rise  even  so  high  as  to  a  sergeantcy.  Once  a 
peasant,  always  a  peasant. 

But  he  found  something  to  interest  him  in  the  fire  of  green 
wood  that  was  still  smoldering  and  sending  up  dense  volumes 
of  smoke,  and  he  stepped  up  to  speak  to  the  two  men  who 
were  busying  themselves  over  it,  Loubet  and  Lapoulle,  both 
members  of  his  squad. 

''Quit  that  !     You  are  stifling  the  whole  camp." 

Loubet,  a  lean,  active  fellow  and  something  of  a  wag,  re- 
plied : 

"  It  will  burn,  corporal  ;  I  assure  you  it  will — why  don't  you 
blow,  you  !  " 

And  b'r  way  of  encouragement  he  bestowed  a  kick  on  La- 
poulle, a  colossus  of  a  man,  who  was  on  his  knees  puffing  away 
with  might  and  main,  his  cheeks  distended  till  they  were  like 
wine-skins,  his  face  red  and  swollen,  and  his  eyes  starting  from 
their  orbits  and  streaming  with  tears.  Two  other  men  of  the 
squad,  Chouteau  and  Pache,  the  former  stretched  at  length 
upon  his  back  like  a  man  who  appreciates  the  delight  of  idle- 
ness, and  the  latter  engrossed  in  the  occupation  of  putting  a 
patch  on  his  trousers,  laughed  long  and  loud  at  the  ridiculous 
expression  on  the  face  of  their  comrade,  the  brutish  Lapoulle. 

Jean  did  not  interfere  to  check  their  merriment.  Perhaps 
the  time  was  at  hand  when  they  would  not  have  much  occasion 
for  laughter,  and  he,  with  all  his  seriousness  and  his  humdrum, 
literal  way  of  taking  things,  did  not  consider  that  it  was  part  of 
his  duty  to  be  melancholy,  preferring  rather  to  close  his  eyes  or 
look  the  other  way  when  his  men  were  enjoying  themselves- 


4  THE  DOWNFALL 

But  his  attention  was  attracted  to  a  second  group  not  far  away, 
another  soldier  of  his  squad,  Maurice  Levasseur,  who  had  been 
conversing  earnestly  for  near  an  hour  with  a  civilian,  a  red- 
haired  gentleman  who  was  apparently  about  thirty-six  years  old, 
with  an  intelligent,  honest  face,  illuminated  by  a  pair  of  big 
protruding  blue  eyes,  evidently  the  eyes  of  a  near-sighted  man. 
They  had  been  joined  by  an  artilleryman,  a  quartermaster- 
sergeant  from  the  reserves,  a  knowing,  self-satisfied-looking 
person  with  brown  mustache  and  imperial,  and  the  three  stood 
talking  like  old  friends,  unmindful  of  what  was  going  on  about 
them. 

In  the  kindness  of  his  heart,  in  order  to  save  them  a  repri- 
mand, if  not  something  worse,  Jean  stepped  up  to  them  and 
said  : 

"  You  had  better  be  going,  sir.     It  is  past  retreat,  and  if  the 

lieutenant  should  see  you "  Maurice  did  not  permit  him  to 

conclude  his  sentence  : 

"  Stay  where  you  are,  Weiss,"  he  said,  and  turning  to  the  cor- 
poral, curtly  added  :  "  This  gentleman  is  my  brother-in-law. 
He  has  a  pass  from  the  colonel,  who  is  acquainted  with  him." 
What  business  had  he  to  interfere  with  other  people's  affairs, 
that  peasant  whose  hands  were  still  reeking  of  the  manure- 
heap  ?  He  was  a  lawyer,  had  been  admitted  to  the  bar  the  pre- 
ceding autumn,  had  enlisted  as  a  volunteer  and  been  received 
into  the  io6th  without  the  formality  of  passing  through  the  re- 
cruiting station,  thanks  to  the  favor  of  the  colonel  ;  it  was  true 
that  he  had  condescended  to  carry  a  musket,  but  from  the 
very  start  he  had  been  conscious  of  a  feeling  of  aversion  and 
rebellion  toward  that  ignorant  clown  under  whose  command  he 
was. 

"Very  well,"  Jean  tranquilly  replied;  "don't  blame  me  if 
your  friend  finds  his  way  to  the  guardhouse." 

Thereon  he  turned  and  went  away,  assured  that  Maurice  had 
not  been  lying,  for  the  colonel,  M.  de  Vineuil,  with  his  com- 
manding, high-bred  manner  and  thick  white  mustache  bisect- 
ing his  long  yellow  face,  passed  by  just  then  and  saluted  Weiss 
and  the  soldier  with  a  smile.  The  colonel  pursued  his  way  at  a 
good  round,  pace  toward  a  farmhouse  that  was  visible  off  to 
the  right  among  the  plum  trees,  a  few  hundred  feet  away,  where 
the  staff  had  taken  up  their  quarters  for  the  night.  No  one 
could  say  whether  the  general  commanding  the  yth  corps  was 
there  or  not  ;  he  was  in  deep  affliction  on  account  of  the  death 
of  his  brother,  slain  in  the  action  at  Wissembourg.  The 


THE    DOWNFALL  5 

brigadier,  however,  Bourgain-Des-feuilles,  in  whose  command 
the  io6th  was,  was  certain  to  be  there,  brawling  as  loud  as  ever, 
and  trundling  his  fat  body  about  on  his  short,  pudgy  legs,  with 
his  red  nose  and  rubicund  face,  vouchers  for  the  good  dinners 
he  had  eaten,  and  not  likely  ever  to  become  topheavy  by  rea- 
son of  excessive  weight  in  his  upper  story.  There  was  a  stir 
and  movement  about  the  farmhouse  that  seemed  to  be  mo- 
mentarily increasing  ;  couriers  and  orderlies  were  arriving  an<4 
departing  every  minute  ;  they  were  awaiting  there,  with  feverisl 
anxiety  of  impatience,  the  belated  dispatches  which  should  ad- 
vise them  of  the  result  of  the  battle  that  everyone,  all  that 
long  August  day,  had  felt  to  be  imminent.  Where  had  it  been 
fought  ?  what  had  been  the  issue  ?  As  night  closed  in  and 
darkness  shrouded  the  scene,  a  foreboding  sense  of  calamity 
seemed  to  settle  down  upon  the  orchard,  upon  the  scattered 
stacks  of  grain  about  the  stables,  and  spread,  and  envelop 
them  in  waves  of  inky  blackness.  It  was  said,  also,  that  a 
Prussian  spy  had  been  caught  roaming  about  the  camp,  and 
that  he  had  been  taken  to  the  house  to  be  examined  by  the 
general.  Perhaps  Colonel  de  Vineuil  had  received  a  telegram 
of  some  kind,  that  he  was  in  such  great  haste. 

Meantime  Maurice  had  resumed  his  conversation  with  his 
brother-in-law  Weiss. and  his  cousin  Honore  Fouchard,  the 
quartermaster-sergeant.  Retreat,  commencing  in  the  remote 
distance,  then  gradually  swelling  in  volume  as  it  drew  near 
with  its  blare  and  rattle,  reached  them,  passed  them,  and  died 
away  in  the  solemn  stillness  of  the  twilight  ;  they  seemed  to 
be  quite  unconscious  of  it.  The  young  man  was  grandson  to 
a  hero  of  the  Grand  Army,  and  had  first  seen  the  light  at 
Chene-Populeux,  where  his  father,  not  caring  to  tread  the  path 
of  glory,  had  held  an  ill-paid  position  as  collector  of  taxes. 
His  mother,  a  peasant,  had  died  in  giving  him  birth,  him  and 
his  twin  sister  Henriette,  who  at  an  early  age  had  become  a 
second  mother  to  him,  and  that  he  was  now  what  he  was,  a 
private  in  the  ranks,  was  owing  entirely  to  his  own  imprudence, 
the  headlong  dissipation  of  a  weak  and  enthusiastic  nature, 
his  money  squandered  and  his  substance  wasted  on  women, 
cards,  the  thousand  follies  of  the  all-devouring  minotaur,  Paris, 
when  he  had  concluded  his  law  studies  there  and  his  relatives 
had  impoverished  themselves  to  make  a  gentleman  of  him. 
His  conduct  had  brought  his  father  to  the  grave ;  his  sister, 
when  he  had  stripped  her  of  her  little  all,  had  been  so  fortu- 
nate as  to  find  a  husband  in  that  excellent  young  fellow  Weiss, 


6  THE   DOWNFALL 

who  had  long  held  the  position  of  accountant  in  the  great 
sugar  refinery  at  Chene-Populeux,  and  was  now  foreman  for 
M.  Delaherche,  one  of  the  chief  cloth  manufacturers  of  Sedan. 
And  Maurice,  always  cheered  and  encouraged  when  he  saw 
a  prospect  of  amendment  in  himself,  and  equally  disheartened 
when  his  good  resolves  failed  him  and  he  relapsed,  generous 
and  enthusiastic  but  without  steadiness  of  purpose,  a  weather- 
cock that  shifted  with  every  varying  breath  of  impulse,  now 
believed  that  experience  had  done  its  work  and  taught  him 
the  error  of  his  ways.  He  was  a  small,  light-complexioned 
man,  with  a  high,  well-developed  forehead,  small  nose,  and 
retreating  chin,  and  a  pair  of  attractive  gray  eyes  in  a  face  that 
indicated  intelligence  ;  there  were  times  when  his  mind  seemed 
to  lack  balance. 

Weiss,  on  the  eve  of  the  commencement  of  hostilities,  had 
found  that  there  were  family  matters  that  made  it  necessary 
for  him  to  visit  Mtilhausen,  and  had  made  a  hurried  trip  to 
that  city.  That  he  had  been  able  to  employ  the  good  offices 
of  Colonel  de  Vineuil  to  afford  him  an  opportunity  of  shaking 
hands  with  his  brother-in-law  was  owing  to  the  circumstance 
that  that  officer  was  own  uncle  to  young  Mme.  Delaherche,  a 
pretty  young  widow  whom  the  cloth  manufacturer  had  married 
the  year  previous,  and  whom  Maurice  and  Henriette,  thanks  to 
their  being  neighbors,  had  known  as  a  girl.  In  addition  to  the 
colonel,  moreover,  Maurice  had  discovered  that  the  captain  of 
his  company,  Beaudoin,  was  an  acquaintance  of  Gilberte,  Dela- 
herche's  young  wife  ;  report  even  had  it  that  she  and  the 
captain  had  been  on  terms  of  intimacy  in  the  days  when  she 
was  Mme.  Maginot,  living  at  Meziere,  wife  of  M.  Maginot, 
the  timber  inspector. 

"  Give  Henriette  a  good  kiss  for  me,  Weiss,"  said  the  young 
man,  who  loved  his  sister  passionately.  "  Tell  her  that  she 
shall  have  no  reason  to  complain  of  me,  that  I  wish  her  to  be 
proud  of  her  brother." 

Tears  rose  to  his  eyes  at  the  remembrance  of  his  misdeeds. 
The  brother-in-law,  who  was  also  deeply  affected,  ended  the 
painful  scene  by  turning  to  Honore  Fouchard,  the  artillery- 
man. 

"  The  first  time  I  am  anywhere  in  the  neighborhood,"  he 
said,  "  I  will  run  up  to  Remilly  and  tell  Uncle  Fouchard  that  I 
saw  you  and  that  you  are  well." 

Uncle  Fouchard,  a  peasant,  who  owned  a  bit  of  land  and 
plied  the  trade  of  itinerant  butcher,  serving  his  customers  from 


THE  DOWNFALL  7 

a  cart,  was  a  brother  of  Henriette'sand  Maurice's  mother.  He 
lived  at  Remilly,  in  a  house  perched  upon  a  high  hill,  about 
four  miles  from  Sedan. 

"  Good  !  "  Honore  calmly  answered  ;  "  the  father  don't 
worry  his  head  a  great  deal  on  my  account,  but  go  there  all  the 
same  if  you  feel  inclined." 

At  that  moment  there  was  a  movement  over  in  the  direction 
of  the  farmhouse,  and  they  beheld  the  straggler,  the  man  who 
had  been  arrested  as  a  spy,  come  forth,  free,  accompanied  only 
by  a  single  officer.  He  had  likely  had  papers  to  show,  or  had 
trumped  up  a  story  of  some  kind,  for  they  were  simply  expel- 
ling him  from  the  camp.  In  the  darkening  twilight,  and  at  the 
distance  they  were,  they  could  not  make  him  out  distinctly,  only 
a  big,  square-shouldered  fellow  with  a  rough  shock  of  reddish 
hair.  And  yet  Maurice  gave  vent  to  an  exclamation  of  sur- 
prise. 

"  Honore  !  look  there.  If  one  wouldn't  swear  he  was  the 
Prussian — you  know,  Goliah  !  " 

The  name  made  the  artilleryman  start  as  if  he  had  been  shot; 
he  strained  his  blazing  eyes  to  follow  the  receding  shape. 
Goliah  Steinberg,  the  journeyman  butcher,  the  man  who  had 
set  him  and  his  father  by  the  ears,  who  had  stolen  from  him 
his  Silvine  ;  the  whole  base,  dirty,  miserable  story,  from  which 
he  had  not  yet  ceased  to  suffer !  He  would  have  run  after, 
would  have  caught  him  by  the  throat  and  strangled  him,  but 
the  man  had  already  crossed  the  line  of  stacked  muskets,  was 
moving  off  and  vanishing  in  the  darkness. 

"  Oh  !  "  he  murmured,  "  Goliah  !  no,  it  can't  be  he.  He  is 
down  yonder,  righting  on  the  other  side.  If  I  ever  come 
across  him " 

He  shook  his  fist  with  an  air  of  menace  at  the  dusky  horizon, 
at  the  wide  empurpled  stretch  of  eastern  sky  that  stood  for 
Prussia  in  his  eyes.  No  one  spoke  ;  they  heard  the  strains  of 
retreat  again,  but  very  distant  now,  away  at  the  extreme  end  of 
the  camp,  blended  and  lost  among  the  hum  of  other  indis- 
tinguishable sounds. 

"Fichtre!"  exclaimed  Honore,  "  I  shall  have  the  pleasure 
of  sleeping  on  the  soft  side  of  a  plank  in  the  guard-house  un- 
less I  make  haste  back  to  roll-call.  Good-night — adieu,  every- 
body !  " 

And  grasping  Weiss  by  both  his  hands  and  giving  them  a 
hearty  squeeze,  he  strode  swiftly  away  toward  the  slight  ele- 
vation where  the  guns  of  the  reserves  were  parked,  without 


S  THE  DOWNFALL 

again  mentioning  his  father's  name  or  sending  any  word  to 
Silvine,  whose  name  lay  at  the  end  of  his  tongue. 

The  minutes  slipped  away,  and  over  toward  the  left,  where 
the  2d  brigade  lay,  a  bugle  sounded.  Another,  near  at  hand, 
replied,  and  then  a  third,  in  the  remote  distance,  took  up 
the  strain.  Presently  there  was  a  universal  blaring,  far  and 
near,  throughout  the  camp,  whereon  Gaude,  the  bugler  of  the 
company,  took  up  his  instrument.  He  was  a  tall,  lank,  beard- 
less, melancholy  youth,  chary  of  his  words,  saving  his  breath 
for  his  calls,  which  he  gave  conscientiously,  with  the  vigor  of 
a  young  hurricane. 

Forthwith  Sergeant  Sapin,  a  ceremonious  little  man  with 
large  vague  eyes,  stepped  forward  and  began  to  call  the  roll. 
He  rattled  off  the  names  in  a  thin,  piping  voice,  while  the  men, 
who  had  come  up  and  ranged  themselves  in  front  of  him,  re- 
sponded in  accents  of  varying  pitch,  from  the  deep  rumble  of 
the  violoncello  to  the  shrill  note  of  the  piccolo.  But  there 
came  a  hitch  in  the  proceedings. 

"  Lapoulle  !  "  shouted  the  sergeant,  calling  the  name  a 
second  time  with  increased  emphasis. 

There  was  no  response,  and  Jean  rushed  off  to  the  place 
where  Private  Lapoulle,  egged  on  by  his  comrades,  was  in- 
dustriously trying  to  fan  the  refractory  fuel  into  a  blaze  ;  flat 
on  his  stomach  before  the  pile  of  blackening,  spluttering 
wood,  his  face  resembling  an  underdone  beefsteak,  the  war- 
rior was  now  propelling  dense  clouds  of  smoke  horizontally 
along  the  surface  of  the  plain. 

"  Thunder  and  ouns  !  Quit  that,  will  you  !  "  yelled  Jean, 
"  and  come  and  answer  to  your  name." 

Lapoulle  rose  to  his  feet  with  a  dazed  look  on  his  face,  then 
appeared  to  grasp  the  situation  and  yelled  :  "  Present  ! "  in 
such  stentorian  tones  that  Loubet,  pretending  to  be  upset  by 
the  concussion,  sank  to  the  ground  in  a  sitting  posture.  Pache 
had  finished  mending  his  trousers  and  answered  in  a  voice  that 
was  barely  audible,  that  sounded  more  like  the  mumbling  of  a 
prayer.  Chouteau,  not  even  troubling  himself  to  rise,  grunted 
his  answer  unconcernedly  and  turned  over  on  his  side. 

Lieutenant  Rochas,  the  officer  of  the  guard,  was  meantime 
standing  a  few  steps  away,motionlessly  awaiting  the  conclusion 
of  the  ceremony.  When  Sergeant  Sapin  had  finished  calling 
the  roll  and  came  up  to  report  that  all  were  present,  the  officer, 
with  a  glance  at  Weiss,  who  was  still  conversing  with  Maurice, 
growled  from  under  his  mustache  : 


THE  DOWNFALL  9 

"  Yes,  and  one  over.     What  is  that  civilian  doing  here  ?  " 

"  He  has  the  colonel's  pass,  Lieutenant,"  explained  Jean,  who 
had  heard  the  question. 

Rochas  made  no  reply  ;  he  shrugged  his  shoulders  disap- 
provingly and  resumed  his  round  among  the  company  streets 
while  waiting  for  taps  to  sound.  Jean,  stiff  and  sore  after  his 
day's  march,  went  and  sat  down  a  little  way  from  Maurice, 
whose  murmured  words  fell  indistinctly  upon  his  unlisten- 
ing  ear,  for  he,  too,  had  vague,  half  formed  reflections  of  his 
own  that  were  stirring  sluggishly  in  the  recesses  of  his  muddy, 
torpid  mind. 

Maurice  was  a  believer  in  war  in  the  abstract ;  he  considered 
it  one  of  the  necessary  evils,  essential  to  the  very  existence  of 
nations.  This  was  nothing  more  than  the  logical  sequence  of 
his  course  in  embracing  those  theories  of  evolution  which  in 
those  days  exercised  such  a  potent  influence  on  our  young  men 
of  intelligence  and  education.  Is  not  life  itself  an  unending 
battle  ?  Does  not  all  nature  owe  its  being  to  a  series  of  relent- 
less conflicts,  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  the  maintenance 
and  renewal  of  force  by  unceasing  activity  ;  is  not  death  a 
necessary  condition  to  young  and  vigorous  life  ?  And  he 
remembered  the  sensation  of  gladness  that  had  filled  his 
heart  when  first  the  thought  occurred  to  him  that  he  might  ex- 
piate his  errors  by  enlisting  and  defending  his  country  on  the 
frontier.  It  might  be  that  France  of  the  plebiscite,  while  giving 
itself  over  to  the  Emperor,  had  not  desired  war  ;  he  himself, 
only  a  week  previously,  had  declared  it  to  be  a  culpable  and 
idiotic  measure.  There  were  long  discussions  concerning  the 
right  of  a  German  prince  to  occupy  the  throne  of  Spain  ;  as  the 
question  gradually  became  more  and  more  intricate  and  mud- 
dled it  seemed  as  if  everyone  must  be  wrong,  no  one  right  ; 
so  that  it  was  impossible  to  tell  from  which  side  the  provocation 
came,  and  the  only  part  of  the  entire  business  that  was  clear  to 
the  eyes  of  all  was  the  inevitable,  the  fatal  law  which  at  a 
given  moment  hurls  nation  against  nation.  Then  Paris  was 
convulsed  from  center  to  circumference  ;  he  remembered  that 
burning  summer's  night,  the  tossing,  struggling  human  tide 
that  filled  the  boulevards,  the  bands  of  men  brandishing  torches 
before  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  and  yelling:  "On  to  Berlin  !  on  to 
Berlin  ! "  and  he  seemed  to  hear  the  strains  of  the  Marseil- 
laise, sung  by  a  beautiful,  stately  woman  with  the  face  of  a 
queen,  wrapped  in  the  folds  of  a  flag,  from  her  elevation  on 
the  box  of  a  coach.  Was  it  all  a  lie,  was  it  true  that  the  heart 


10  THE  DOWNFALL 

of  Paris  had  not  beaten  then  ?  And  then,  as  was  always 
the  case  with  him,  that  condition  of  nervous  excitation  had 
been  succeeded  by  long  hours  of  doubt  and  disgust ;  there 
were  all  the  small  annoyances  of  the  soldier's  life ;  his  arrival 
at  the  barracks,  his  examination  by  the  adjutant,  the  fitting  of 
his  uniform  by  the  gruff  sergeant,  the  malodorous  bedroom 
with  its  fetid  air  and  filthy  floor,  the  horseplay  and  coarse  lan- 
guage of  his  new  comrades,  the  merciless  drill  that  stiffened  his 
limbs  and  benumbed  his  brain.  In  a  week's  time,  however,  he 
had  conquered  his  first  squeamishness,  and  from  that  time 
forth  was  comparatively  contented  with  his  lot  ;  and  when  the 
regiment  was  at  last  ordered  forward  to  Belfort  the  fever  of 
enthusiasm  had  again  taken  possession  of  him. 

For  the  first  few  days  after  they  took  the  field  Maurice  was 
convinced  that  their  success  was  absolutely  certain.  The  Em- 
peror's plan  appeared  to  him  perfectly  clear  :  he  would  ad- 
vance four  hundred  thousand  men  to  the  left  bank  of  the 
Rhine,  pass  the  river  before  the  Prussians  had  completed  their 
preparations,  separate  northern  and  southern  Germany  by  a 
vigorous  inroad,  and  by  means  of  a  brilliant  victory  or  two  com- 
pel Austria  and  Italy  to  join  hands  immediately  with  France. 
Had  there  not  been  a  short-lived  rumor  that  that  7th  corps 
of  which  his  regiment  formed  a  part  was  to  be  embarked  at 
Brest  and  landed  in  Denmark,  where  it  would  create  a  diver- 
sion that  would  serve  to  neutralize  one  of  the  Prussian  armies  ? 
They  would  be  taken  by  surprise  ;  the  arrogant  nation  would  be 
overrun  in  every  direction  and  crushed  utterly  within  a  few 
brief  weeks.  It  would  be  a  military  picnic,  a  holiday  excursion 
from  Strasbourg  to  Berlin.  While  they  were  lying  inactive  at 
Belfort,  however,  his  former  doubts  and  fears  returned  to  him. 
To  the  yth  corps  had  been  assigned  the  duty  of  guarding  the 
entrance  to  the  Black  Forest ;  it  had  reached  its  position  in  a 
state  of  confusion  that  exceeded  imagination,  deficient  in  men, 
material,  everything.  The  3d  division  was  in  Italy ;  the 
2d  cavalry  brigade  had  been  halted  at  Lyons  to  check  a 
threatened  rising  among  the  people  there,  and  three  batteries 
had  straggled  off  in  some  direction — where,  no  one  could  say. 
Then  their  destitution  in  the  way  of  stores  and  supplies  was 
something  wonderful  ;  the  depots  at  Belfort,  which  were  to 
have  furnished  everything,  were  empty  ;  not  a  sign  of  a  tent,  no 
mess-kettles,  no  flannel  belts,  no  hospital  supplies,  no  farriers' 
forges,  not  even  a  horse-shackle.  The  quartermaster's  and 
medical  departments  were  without  trained  assistants.  At  the 


THE  DOWNFALL  11 

very  last  moment  it  was  discovered  that  thirty  thousand  rifles 
were  practically  useless  owing  to  the  absence  of  some  small  pin 
or  other  interchangeable  mechanism  about  the  breech-blocks, 
and  the  officer  who  posted  off  in  hot  haste  to  Paris  succeeded 
with  the  greatest  difficulty  in  securing  five  thousand  of  the 
missing  implements.  Their  inactivity,  again,  was  another 
matter  that  kept  him  on  pins  and  needles  ;  why  did  they  idle 
away  their  time  for  two  weeks?  why  did  they  not  advance? 
He  saw  clearly  that  each  day  of  delay  was  a  mistake  that  could 
never  be  repaired,  a  chance  of  victory  gone.  And  if  the  plan 
of  campaign  that  he  had  dreamed  of  was  clear  and  precise,  its 
manner  of  execution  was  most  lame  and  impotent,  a  fact  of 
which  he  was  to  learn  a  great  deal  more  later  on  and  of  which 
he  had  then  only  a  faint  and  glimmering  perception  :  the  seven 
army  corps  dispersed  along  the  extended  frontier  line  en  Echelon, 
from  Metz  to  Bitche  and  from  Bitche  to  Belfort  ;  the  many 
regiments  and  squadrons  that  had  been  recruited  up  to  only 
half-strength  or  less,  so  that  the  four  hundred  and  thirty 
thousand  men  on  paper  melted  away  to  two  hundred  and  thirty 
thousand  at  the  outside  ;  the  jealousies  among  the  generals, 
each  of  whom  thought  only  of  securing  for  himself  a  marshal's 
baton,  and  gave  no  care  to  supporting  his  neighbor  ;  the 
frightful  lack  of  foresight,  mobilization  and  concentration  being 
carried  on  simultaneously  in  order  to  gain  time,  a  process  that 
resulted  in  confusion  worse  confounded  ;  a  system,  in  a  word, 
of  dry  rot  and  slow  paralysis,  which,  commencing  with  the  head, 
with  the  Emperor  himself,  shattered  in  health  and  lacking  in 
promptness  of  decision,  could  not  fail  ultimately  to  communicate 
itself  to  the  whole  army,  disorganizing  it  and  annihilating  its 
efficiency,  leading  it  into  disaster  from  which  it  had  not  the 
means  of  extricating  itself.  And  yet,  over  and  above  the  dull 
misery  of  that  period  of  waiting,  in  the  intuitive,  shuddering 
perception  of  what  must  infallibly  happen,  his  certainty  that 
they  must  be  victors  in  the  end  remained  unimpaired. 

On  the  3d  of  August  the  cheerful  news  had  been  given  to 
the  public  of  the  victory  of  Sarrebruck,  fought  and  won  the 
day  before.  It  could  scarcely  be  called  a  great  victory,  but 
the  columns  of  the  newspapers  teemed  with  enthusiastic  gush  ; 
the  invasion  of  Germany  was  begun,  it  was  the  first  step  in 
their  glorious  march  to  triumph,  and  the  little  Prince  Imperial, 
who  had  coolly  stooped  and  picked  up  a  bullet  from  the  battle- 
field, then  commenced  to  be  celebrated  in  legend.  Two  days 
later,  however,  when  intelligence  came  of  the  surprise  and  de- 


12  THE  DOWNFALL 

feat  at  Wissembourg,  every  mouth  was  opened  to  emit  a  cry  of 
rage  and  distress.  That  five  thousand  men,  caught  in  a  trap, 
had  faced  thirty-five  thousand  Prussians  all  one  long  summer 
day,  that  was  not  a  circumstance  to  daunt  the  courage  of  any- 
one ;  it  simply  called  for  vengeance.  Yes,  the  leaders  had 
doubtless  been  culpably  lacking  in  vigilance  and  were  to  be 
censured  for  their  want  of  foresight,  but  that  would  soon  be 
mended  ;  MacMahon  had  sent  for  the  ist  division  of  the  yth 
corps,  the  ist  corps  would  be  supported  by  the  5th,  and  the 
Prussians  must  be  across  the  Rhine  again  by  that  time,  with 
the  bayonets  of  our  infantry  at  their  backs  to  accelerate  their 
movement.  And  so,  beneath  the  deep,  dim  vault  of  heaven, 
the  thought  of  the  battle  that  roust  have  raged  that  day,  the 
feverish  impatience  with  which  the  tidings  were  awaited,  the 
horrible  feeling  of  suspense  that  pervaded  the  air  about  them, 
spread  from  man  to  man  and  became  each  minute  more  tense 
and  unendurable. 

Maurice  was  just  then  saying  to  Weiss  : 

"Ah  !  we  have  certainly  given  them  a  righteous  good  drub- 
bing to-day." 

Weiss  made  no  reply  save  to  nod  his  head  with  an  air  of  anx- 
iety. His  gaze  was  directed  toward  the  Rhine,  on  that  Orient 
region  where  now  the  night  had  settled  down  in  earnest,  like  a 
wall  of  blackness,  concealing  strange  forms  and  shapes  of  mys- 
tery. The  concluding  strains  of  the  bugles  for  roll-call  had 
been  succeeded  by  a  deep  silence,  which  had  descended  upon 
the  drowsy  camp  and  was  only  broken  now  and  then  by  the 
steps  and  voices  of  some  wakeful  soldiers.  A  light  had  been 
lit — it  looked  like  a  twinkling  star — in  the  main  room  of  the 
farmhouse  where  the  staff,  which  is  supposed  never  to  sleep, 
was  awaiting  the  telegrams  that  came  in  occasionally,  though 
as  yet  they  were  undecided.  And  the  green  wood  fire,  now 
finally  left  to  itself,  was  still  emitting  its  funereal  wreaths  of 
dense  black  smoke,  which  drifted  in  the  gentle  breeze  over  the 
unsleeping  farmhouse,  obscuring  the  early  stars  in  the  heavens 
above. 

"A  drubbing  !  "  Weiss  at  last  replied,  "God  grant  it  may  be 
so!" 

Jean,  still  seated  a  few  steps  away,  pricked  up  his  ears,  while 
Lieutenant  Rochas,  noticing  that  the  wish  was  attended  by  a 
doubt,  stopped  to  listen. 

"What  !  "  Maurice  rejoined,  "have  you  not  confidence  ?  can 
you  believe  that  defeat  is  possible?" 


THE  DOWNFALL  13 

His  brother-in-law  silenced  him  with  a  gesture  ;  his  hands 
were  trembling  with  agitation,  his  kindly  pleasant  face  was  pale 
and  bore  an  expression  of  deep  distress. 

"  Defeat,  ah  !  Heaven  preserve  us  from  that  !  You  know 
that  I  was  born  in  this  country  ;  my  grandfather  and  grand- 
mother were  murdered  by  the  Cossacks  in  1814,  and  whenever 
I  think  of  invasion  it  makes  me  clench  my  fist  and  grit  my 
teeth  ;  I  could  go  through  fire  and  flood,  like  a  trooper,  in  my 
shirt  sleeves  !  Defeat — no,  no  !  I  cannot,  I  will  not  believe  it 
possible." 

He  became  calmer,  allowing  his  arms  to  fall  by  his  side  in 
discouragement. 

"But  my  mind  is  not  easy,  do  you  see.  I  know  Alsace  ;  I 
was  born  there  ;  I  am  just  off  a  business  trip  through  the 
country,  and  we  civilians  have  opportunities  of  seeing  many 
things  that  the  generals  persist  in  ignoring,  although  they  have 
them  thrust  beneath  their  very  eyes.  Ah,  we  wanted  war  with 
Prussia  as  badly  as  anyone ;  for  a  long,  long  time  we  have 
been  waiting  patiently  for  a  chance  to  pay  off  old  scores,  but 
that  did  not  prevent  us  from  being  on  neighborly  terms  with 
the  people  in  Baden  and  Bavaria  ;  every  one  of  us,  almost,  has 
friends  or  relatives  across  the  Rhine.  It  was  our  belief  that 
they  felt  like  us  and  would  not  be  sorry  to  humble  the  intoler- 
able insolence  of  the  Prussians.  And  now,  after  our  long 
period  of  uncomplaining  expectation,  for  the  past  two  weeks  we 
have  seen  things  going  from  bad  to  worse,  and  it  vexes  and 
terrifies  us.  Since  the  declaration  of  war  the  enemy's  horse 
have  been  suffered  to  come  among  us,  terrorizing  the  villages, 
reconnoitering  the  country,  cutting  the  telegraph  wires.  Baden 
and  Bavaria  are  rising;  immense  bodies  of  troops  are  being 
concentrated  in  the  Palatinate  ;  information  reaches  us  from 
every  quarter,  from  the  great  fairs  and  markets,  that  our  frontier 
is  threatened,  and  when  the  citizens,  the  mayors  of  the  com- 
munes, take  the  alarm  at  last  and  hurry  off  to  tell  your  officers 
what  they  know,  those  gentlemen  shrug  their  shoulders  and 
reply  :  Those  things  spring  from  the  imagination  of  cowards  ; 
there  is  no  enemy  near  here.  And  when  there  is  not  an  hour 
to  lose,  days  and  days  are  wasted.  What  are  they  waiting  for  ? 
To  give  the  whole  German  nation  time  to  concentrate  on  the 
other  bank  of  the  river  ?" 

His  words  were  uttered  in  a  low,  mournful  voice,  as  if  he 
were  reciting  to  himself  a  story  that  had  long  occupied  his 
thoughts. 


14  THE  DOWNFALL 

"  Ah  !  Germany,  I  know  her  too  well ;  and  the  terrible  part 
of  the  business  is  that  you  soldiers  seem  to  know  no  more 
about  her  than  you  do  about  China.  You  must  remember  my 
cousin  Gunther,  Maurice,  the  young  man  who  came  to  pay  me 
a  flying  visit  at  Sedan  last  spring.  His  mother  is  a  sister  of 
my  mother,  and  married  a  Berliner  ;  the  young  man  is  a  Ger- 
man out  and  out  ;  he  detests  everything  French.  He  is  a 
captain  in  the  5th  Prussian  corps.  I  accompanied  him  to 
the  railway  station  that  night,  and  he  said  to  me  in  his 
sharp,  peremptory  way :  '  If  France  declares  war  on  us,  she 
will  be  soundly  whipped  ! '  I  can  hear  his  words  ringing  in  my 
ears  yet." 

Forthwith,  Lieutenant  Rochas,  who  had  managed  to  contain 
himself  until  then,  not  without  some  difficulty,  stepped  forward 
in  a  towering  rage.  He  was  a  tall,  lean  individual  of  about 
fifty,  with  a  long,  weather-beaten,  and  wrinkled  face  ;  his 
inordinately  long  nose,  curved  like  the  beak  of  a  bird  of  prey, 
over  a  strong  but  well-shaped  mouth,  concealed  by  a  thick, 
bristling  mustache  that  was  beginning  to  be  touched  with 
silver.  And  he  shouted  in  a  voice  of  thunder  : 

"  See  here,  you,  sir !  what  yarns  are  those  that  you  are  retail- 
ing to  dishearten  my  men  ?  " 

Jean  did  not  interfere  with  his  opinion,  but  he  thought  that 
the  last  speaker  was  right,  for  he,  too,  while  beginning  to  be 
conscious  of  the  protracted  delay,  and  the  general  confusion 
in  their  affairs,  had  never  had  the  slightest  doubt  about  that 
terrible  thrashing  they  were  certain  to  give  the  Prussians. 
There  could  be  no  question  about  the  matter,  for  was  not  that 
the  reason  of  their  being  there  ? 

"  But  I  am  not  trying  to  dishearten  anyone,  Lieutenant," 
Weiss  answered  in  astonishment.  "  Quite  the  reverse  ;  I  am 
desirous  that  others  should  know  what  I  know,  because  then 
they  will  be  able  to  act  with  their  eyes  open.  Look  here!  that 
Germany  of  which  we  were  speaking " 

And  he  went  on  in  his  clear,  demonstrative  way  to  explain 
the  reason  of  his  fears  :  how  Prussia  had  increased  her  resources 
since  Sadowa ;  how  the  national  movement  had  placed  her  at 
the  head  of  the  other  German  states,  a  mighty  empire  in  proc- 
ess of  formation  and  rejuvenation,  with  the  constant  hope 
and  desire  for  unity  as  the  incentive  to  their  irresistible  efforts  ; 
the  system  of  compulsory  military  service,  which  made  them  a 
nation  of  trained  soldiers,  provided  with  the  most  effective 
<\rms  of  modern  invention,  with  generals  who  were  masters  in 


THE   DOWNFALL  15 

the  art  of  strategy,  proudly  mindful  still  of  the  crushing  defeat 
they  had  administered  to  Austria  ;  the  intelligence,  the  moral 
force  that  resided  in  that  army,  commanded  as  it  was  almost 
exclusively  by  young  generals,  who  in  turn  looked  up  to 
a  commander-in-chief  who  seemed  destined  to  revolutionize 
the  art  of  war,  whose  prudence  and  foresight  were  unparalleled, 
whose  correctness  of  judgment  was  a  thing  to  wonder  at.  And 
in  contrast  to  that  picture  of  Germany  he  pointed  to  France  : 
the  Empire  sinking  into  senile  decrepitude,  sanctioned  by  the 
plebiscite,  but  rotten  at  its  foundation,  destroying  liberty,  and 
therein  stifling  every  idea  of  patriotism,  ready  to  give  up  the 
ghost  as  soon  as  it  should  cease  to  satisfy  the  unworthy  ap- 
petites to  which  it  had  given  birth  ;  then  there  was  the  army, 
brave,  it  was  true,  as  was  to  be  expected  from  men  of  their 
race,  and  covered  with  Crimean  and  Italian  laurels,  but  vitiated 
by  the  system  that  permitted  men  to  purchase  substitutes  for  a 
money  consideration,  abandoned  to  the  antiquated  methods  of 
African  routine,  too  confident  of  victory  to  keep  abreast  with 
the  more  perfect  science  of  modern  times ;  and,  finally,  the 
generals,  men  for  the  most  part  not  above  mediocrity,  con- 
sumed by  petty  rivalries,  some  of  them  of  an  ignorance  beyond 
all  belief,  and  at  their  head  the  Emperor,  an  ailing,  vacillating 
man,  deceiving  himself  and  everyone  with  whom  he  had  deal- 
ings in  that  desperate  venture  on  which  they  were  embarking, 
into  which  they  were  all  rushing  blindfold,  with  no  preparation 
worthy  of  the  name,  with  the  panic  and  confusion  of  a  flock  of 
sheep  on  its  way  to  the  shambles. 

Rochas  stood  listening,  open-mouthed,  and  with  staring 
eyes  ;  his  terrible  nose  dilated  visibly.  Then  suddenly  his 
lantern  jaws  parted  to  emit  an  obstreperous,  Homeric  peal  of 
laughter. 

"What  are  you  giving  us  there,  you  ?  what  do  you  mean  by 
all  that  silly  lingo  ?  Why,  there  is  not  the  first  word  of  sense 
in  your  whole  harangue — it  is  too  idiotic  to  deserve  an  answer. 
Go  and  tell  those  things  to  the  recruits,  but  don't  tell  them  to 
me  ;  no  !  not  to  me,  who  have  seen  twenty-seven  years  of  ser- 
vice." 

And  he  gave  himself  a  thump  on  the  breast  with  his  doubled 
fist.  He  was  the  son  of  a  master  mason  who  had  come  from 
Limousin  to  Paris,  where  the  son,  not  taking  kindly  to  the  pa- 
ternal handicraft,  had  enlisted  at  the  age  of  eighteen.  He  had 
been  a  soldier  of  fortune  and  had  carried  the  knapsack,  was 
corporal  in  Africa,  sergeant  in  the  Crimea,  and  after  Solferino 


1 6  THE  DOWNFALL 

had  been  made  lieutenant,  having  devoted  fifteen  years  of  la- 
borious toil  and  heroic  bravery  to  obtaining  that  rank,  and  was 
so  illiterate  that  he  had  no  chance  of  ever  getting  his  captaincy. 

"  You,  sir,  who  think  you  know  everything,  let  me  tell  you  a 
thing  you  don't  know.  Yes,  at  Mazagran  I  was  scarce  nineteen 
years  old,  and  there  were  twenty-three  of  us,  not  a  living  soul 
more,  and  for  more  than  four  days  we  held  out  against  twelve 
thousand  Arabs.  Yes,  indeed  !  for  years  and  years,  if  you  had 
only  been  with  us  out  there  in  Africa,  sir,  at  Mascara,  at  Bis- 
kra, at  Dellys,  after  that  in  Grand  Kabylia,  after  that  again  at 
Laghouat,  you  would  have  seen  those  dirty  niggers  run  like 
deer  as  soon  as  we  showed  our  faces.  And  at  Sebastopol,  sir, 
fichtre  \  you  wouldn't  have  said  it  was  the  pleasantest  place  in 
the  world.  The  wind  blew  fit  to  take  a  man's  hair  out  by  the 
roots,  it  was  cold  enough  to  freeze  a  brass  monkey,  and  those 
beggars  kept  us  on  a  continual  dance  with  their  feints  and  sorties. 
Never  mind ;  we  made  them  dance  in  the  end  ;  we  danced 
them  into  the  big  hot  frying  pan,  and  to  quick  music,  too  ,f 
And  Solferino,  you  were  not  there,  sir  !  then  why  do  you  speak 
of  it  ?  Yes,  at  Solferino,  where  it  was  so  hot,  although  I  sup- 
pose more  rain  fell  there  thai  day  than  you  have  seen  in  your 
whole  life,  at  Solferino,  where  we  had  our  little  brush  with  the 
Austrians,  it  would  have  warmed  your  heart  to  see  how  they 
vanished  before  our  bayonets,  riding  one  another  down  in  their 
haste  to  get  away  from  us,  as  if  their  coat  tails  were  on  fire  !  " 

He  laughed  the  gay,  ringing  laugh  of  the  daredevil  French 
soldier  ;  he  seemed  to  expand  and  dilate  with  satisfaction.  It 
was  the  old  story  :  the  French  trooper  going  about  the  world 
with  his  girl  on  his  arm  and  a  glass  of  good  wine  in  his  hand  ; 
thrones  upset  and  kingdoms  conquered  in  the  singing  of  a 
merry  song.  Given  a  corporal  and  four  men,  and  great  armies 
would  bite  the  dust.  His  voice  suddenly  sank  to  a  low,  rum- 
bling bass  : 

"  What  !  whip  France  ?  We,  whipped  by  those  Prussian  pigs, 
we  !  "  He  came  up  to  Weiss  and  grasped  him  violently  by  the 
lapel  of  his  coat.  His  entire  long  frame,  lean  as  that  of  the 
immortal  Knight  Errant,  seemed  to  breathe  defiance  and  un- 
mitigated contempt  for  the  foe,  whoever  he  might  be,  regardless 
of  time,  place,  or  any  other  circumstance.  "  Listen  to  what  I 
tell  you,  sir.  If  the  Prussians  dare  to  show  their  faces  here, 
we  will  kick  them  home  again.  You  hear  me  ?  we  will  kick 
them  from  here  to  Berlin."  His  bearing  and  manner  were  su- 
perb ;  the  serene  tranquillity  of  the  child,  the  candid  convic* 


THE  DOWNFALL  17 

tiori  of  the  innocent  who  knows  nothing  and  fears  nothing. 
*'  Parbleu!  it  is  so,  because  it  is  so,  and  that's  all  there  is  about 
it!" 

Weiss,  stunned  and  almost  convinced,  made  haste  to  declare 
that  he  wished  for  nothing  better.  As  for  Maurice,  who  had 
prudently  held  his  tongue,  not  venturing  to  express  an  opinion 
in  presence  of  his  superior  officer,  he  concluded  by  joining  in 
the  other's  merriment ;  he  warmed  the  cockles  of  his  heart, 
that  devil  of  a  man,  whom  he  nevertheless  considered  rather 
stupid.  Jean,  too,  had  nodded  his  approval  at  every  one  of  the 
lieutenant's  assertions.  He  had  also  been  at  Solferino,  where 
it  rained  so  hard.  And  that  showed  what  it  was  to  have  a 
tongue  in  one's  head  and  know  how  to  use  it.  If  all  the 
leaders  had  talked  like  that  they  would  not  be  in  such  a 
mess,  and  there  would  be  camp-kettles  and  flannel  belts  in 
abundance. 

It  was  quite  dark  by  this  time,  and  Rochas  continued  to 
gesticulate  and  brandish  his  long  arms  in  the  obscurity.  His 
historical  studies  had  been  confined  to  a  stray  volume  of  Na- 
poleonic memoirs  that  had  found  its  way  to  his  knapsack  from 
a  peddler's  wagon.  His  excitement  refused  to  be  pacified 
and  all  his  book-learning  burst  from  his  lips  in  a  torrent  of  elo- 
quence : 

"We  flogged  the  Austrians  at  Castiglione,  at  Marengo,  at 
Austerlitz,  at  Wagram  ;  we  flogged  the  Prussians  at  Eylau,  at 
Jena,  at  Lutzen  ;  we  flogged  the  Russians  at  Friedland,  at 
Smolensk  and  at  the  Moskowa  ;  we  flogged  Spain  and  England 
everywhere ;  all  creation  flogged,  flogged,  flogged,  up  and 
down,  far  and  near,  at  home  and  abroad,  and  now  you  tell  me 
that  it  is  we  who  are  to  take  the  flogging  !  Why,  pray  tell  me  ? 
How  ?  Is  the  world  coming  to  an  end  ?"  He  drew  his  tall 
form  up  higher  still  and  raised  his  arm  aloft,  like  the  staff  of  a 
battle-flag.  "  Look  you,  there  has  been  a  fight  to-day,  down 
yonder,  and  we  are  waiting  for  the  news.  Well  !  I  will  tell 
you  what  the  news  is — I  will  tell  you,  I  !  We  have  flogged  the 
Prussians,  flogged  them  until  they  didn't  know  whether  they 
were  a-foot  or  a-horseback,  flogged  them  to  powder,  so  that  they 
had  to  be  swept  up  in  small  pieces  !  " 

At  that  moment  there  passed  over  the  camp,  beneath  the 
somber  heavens,  a  loud,  wailing  cry.  Was  it  the  plaint  of 
some  nocturnal  bird  ?  Or  was  it  a  mysterious  voice,  reaching 
them  from  some  far-distant  field  of  carnage,  ominous  of  dis- 
aster ?  The  whole  camp  shuddered,  lying  there  in  the  black 


1 8  THE  DOWNFALL 

shadows,  and  the  strained,  tense  sensation  of  expectant  anxiety 
that  hung,  miasma-like,  in  the  air  became  more  strained,  more 
feverish,  as  they  waited  for  telegrams  that  seemed  as  if  they 
would  never  come.  In  the  distance,  at  the  farmhouse,  the 
candle  that  lighted  the  dreary  watches  of  the  staff  burned  up 
more  brightly,  with  an  erect,  unflickering  flame,  as  if  it  had 
been  of  wax  instead  of  tallow. 

But  it  was  ten  o'clock,  and  [Gaude,  rising  to  his  feet  from 
the  ground  where  he  had  been  lost  in  the  darkness,  sounded 
taps,  the  first  in  all  the  camp.  Other  bugles,  far  and  near, 
took  up  the  strain,  and  it  passed  away  in  the  distance  with  a. 
dying,  melancholy  wail,  as  if  the  angel  of  slumber  had  already 
brushed  with  his  wings  the  weary  men.  And  Weiss,  who  had 
lingered  there  so  late,  embraced  Maurice  affectionately  ;  cour- 
age, and  hope  !  he  would  kiss  Henriette  for  her  brother  and 
would  have  many  things  to  tell  uncle  Fouchard  when  they 
met.  Then,  just  as  he  was  turning  to  go,  a  rumor  began  to 
circulate,  accompanied  by  the  wildest  excitement.  A  great 
victory  had  been  won  by  Marshal  MacMahon,  so  the  report 
ran  ;  the  Crown  Prince  of  Prussia  a  prisoner,  with  twenty-five 
thousand  men,  the  enemy's  army  repulsed  and  utterly  de- 
stroyed, its  guns  and  baggage  abandoned  to  the  victors. 

"  Didn't  I  tell  you  so  !  "  shouted  Rochas,  in  his  most  thun- 
dering voice.  Then,  running  after  Weiss,  who,  light  of  heart, 
was  hastening  to  get  back  to  Miilhausen  :  "  To  Berlin,  sir, 
and  we'll  kick  them  every  step  of  the  way  !  " 

A  quarter  of  an  hour  later  came  another  dispatch,  announc- 
ing that  the  army  had  been  compelled  to  evacuate  Woerth  and 
was  retreating.  Ah,  what  a  night  was  that  !  Rochas,  over- 
powered by  sleep,  wrapped  his  cloak  about  him,  threw  him- 
self down  on  the  bare  ground,  as  he  had  done  many  a  time 
before.  Maurice  and  Jean  sought  the  shelter  of  the  tent,  into 
which  were  crowded,  a  confused  tangle  of  arms  and  legs,  Loubet, 
Chouteau,  Pache,  and  Lapoulle,  their  heads  resting  on  their 
knapsacks.  There  was  room  for  six,  provided  they  were 
careful  how  they  disposed  of  their  legs.  Loubet,  by  way  of 
diverting  his  comrades  and  making  them  forget  their  hunger, 
had  labored  for  some  time  to  convince  Lapoulle  that  there 
was  to  be  a  ration  of  poultry  issued  the  next  morning,  but  they 
were  too  sleepy  to  keep  up  the  joke  ;  they  were  snoring,  and 
the  Prussians  might  come,  it  was  all  one  to  them.  Jean  lay 
for  a  moment  without  stirring,  pressing  close  against  Maurice  ; 
notwithstanding  his  fatigue  he  was  unable  to  sleep  ;  he  coulci 


THE  DOWNFALL  19 

not  help  thinking  of  the  things  that  gentleman  had  said,  how 
all  Germany  was  up  in  arms  and  preparing  to  pour  her  devas- 
tating hordes  across  the  Rhine  ;  and  be  felt  that  his  tentmate 
was  not  sleeping,  either — was  thinking  of  the  same  things  as  he. 
Then  the  latter  turned  over  impatiently  and  moved  away,  and 
the  other  understood  that  his  presence  was  not  agreeable. 
There  was  a  lack  of  sympathy  between  the  peasant  and  the 
man  of  culture,  an  enmity  of  caste  and  education  that  amounted 
almost  to  physical  aversion.  The  former,  however,  experienced 
a  sensation  of  shame  and  sadness  at  this  condition  of  affairs  ;  he 
shrinkingly  drew  in  his  limbs  so  as  to  occupy  as  small  a  space  as 
possible,  endeavoring  to  escape  from  the  hostile  scorn  that  he 
was  vaguely  conscious  of  in  his  neighbor.  But  although  the 
night  wind  without  had  blown  up  chill,  the  crowded  tent  was 
so  stifling  hot  and  close  that  Maurice,  in  a  fever  of  exasperation, 
raised  the  flap,  darted  out,  and  went  and  stretched  himself  on 
the  ground  a  few  steps  away.  That  made  Jean  still  more  un- 
happy, and  in  his  half-sleeping,  half-waking  condition  he  had 
troubled  dreams,  made  up  of  a  regretful  feeling  that  no  one 
cared  for  him,  and  a  vague  apprehension  of  impending  calamity 
of  which  he  seemed  to  hear  the  steps  approaching  with  meas- 
ured tread  from  the  shadowy,  mysterious  depths  of  the  un- 
known. 

Two  hours  passed,  and  all  the  camp  lay  lifeless,  motionless 
under  the  oppression  of  the  deep,  weird  darkness,  that  was  in- 
stinct with  some  dreadful  horror  as  yet  without  a  name.  Out 
of  the  sea  of  blackness  came  stifled  sighs  and  moans  ;  from  an 
invisible  tent  was  heard  something  that  sounded  like  the  groan 
of  a  dying  man,  the  fitful  dream  of  some  tired  soldier.  Then 
there  were  other  sounds  that  to  the  strained  ear  lost  their 
familiarity  and  became  menaces  of  approaching  evil  ;  the 
neighing  of  a  charger,  the  clank  of  a  sword,  the  hurrying  steps 
of  some  belated  prowler.  And  all  at  once,  off  toward  the  can- 
teens, a  great  light  flamed  up.  The  entire  front  was  brilliantly 
illuminated  ;  the  long,  regularly  aligned  array  of  stacks  stood 
out  against  the  darkness,  and  the  ruddy  blaze,  reflected  from 
the  burnished  barrels  of  the  rifles,  assumed  the  hue  of  new-shed 
blood  ;  the  erect,  stern  figures  of  the  sentries  became  visible 
in  the  fiery  glow.  Could  it  be  the  enemy,  whose  presence  the 
leaders  had  been  talking  of  for  the  past  two  days,  and  on  whose 
trail  they  had  come  out  from  Belfort  to  Miilhausen  ?  Then  a 
shower  of  sparks  rose  high  in  the  air  and  the  conflagration 
subsided.  It  was  only  the  pile  of  green  wood  that  had  been  so 


20  THE  DOWNFALL 

long  the  object  of  Loubet's  and  Lapoulle's  care,  and  which, 
after  having  smoldered  for  many  hours,  had  at  last  flashed  up 
like  a  fire  of  straw. 

Jean,  alarmed  by  the  vivid  light,  hastily  left  the  tent  and  was 
near  falling  over  Maurice,  who  had  raised  his  head  and  was 
watching  the  scene,  supporting  himself  on  his  elbow.  The 
darkness  seemed  by  contrast  more  opaque  than  it  had  been  be- 
fore, and  the  two  men  lay  stretched  on  the  bare  ground,  a  few 
paces  from  each  other.  All  that  they  could  descry  before  them 
in  the  dense  shadows  of  the  night  was  the  window  of  the  farm- 
house, faintly  illuminated  by  the  dim  candle,  which  shone  with 
a  sinister  gleam,  as  if  it  were  doing  duty  by  the  bedside  of  a 
corpse.  What  time  was  it  ?  two  o'clock,  or  three,  perhaps.  It 
was  plain  that  the  staff  had  not  made  acquaintance  with  their 
beds  that  night.  They  could  hear  Bourgain-Desfeuilles'  loud, 
disputatious  voice  ;  the  general  was  furious  that  his  rest 
should  be  broken  thus,  and  it  required  many  cigars  and  toddies 
to  pacify  him.  More  telegrams  came  in  ;  things  must  be  going 
badly  ;  silhouettes  of  couriers,  faintly  drawn  against  the  un- 
certain sky  line,  could  be  descried,  galloping  madly.  There 
was  the  sound  of  scuffling  steps,  imprecations,  a  smothered  cry 
as  of  a  man  suddenly  stricken  down,  followed  by  a  blood-freez- 
ing silence.  What  could  it  be  ?  Was  it  the  end  ?  A  breath, 
chill  and  icy  as  that  from  the  lips  of  death,  had  passed  over 
the  camp  that  lay  lost  in  slumber  and  agonized  expectation. 

It  was  at  that  moment  that  Jean  and  Maurice  recognized  in 
the  tall,  thin,  spectral  form  that  passed  swiftly  by,  their  colonel, 
de  Vineuil.  He  was  accompanied  by  the  regimental  surgeon, 
Major  Bouroche,  a  large  man  with  a  leonine  face.  They  were 
conversing  in  broken,  unfinished  sentences,  whisperingly,  such 
a  conversation  as  we  sometimes  hear  in  dreams. 

"  It  came  by  the  way  of  Basle.  Our  ist  division  all  cut  to 
pieces.  The  battle  lasted  twelve  hours;  the  whole  army  is  re- 
treating  " 

The  colonel's  specter  halted  and  called  by  name  another 
specter,  which  came  lightly  forward  ;  it  was  an  elegant  ghost, 
faultless  in  uniform  and  equipment. 

^  Is  that  you,  Beaudoin  ?" 

"  Yes,  Colonel." 

"  Ah  !  bad  news,  my  friend,  terrible  news  !  MacMahon 
beaten  at  Froeschwiller,  Frossard  beaten  at  Spickeren,  and  be- 
tween them  de  Failly,  held  in  check  where  he  could  give  no 
assistance.  At  Froeschwiller  it  was  a  single  corps  against  an 


THE  DOWNFALL  21 

entire  army  ;  they  fought  like  heroes.  It  was  a  complete  rout, 
a  panic,  and  now  France  lies  open  to  their  advance " 

His  tears  choked  further  utterance,  the  words  came  from  his 
lips  unintelligible,  and  the  three  shadows  vanished,  swallowed 
up  in  the  obscurity. 

Maurice  rose  to  his  feet  ;  a  shudder  ran  through  his  frame. 

"  Good  God  !  "  he  stammeringly  exclaimed. 

And  he  could  think  of  nothing  else  to  say,  while  Jean,  in 
whose  bones  the  very  marrow  seemed  to  be  congealing,  mur- 
mured in  his  resigned  manner  : 

"Ah,  worse  luck  !  The  gentleman,  that  relative  of  yours, 
was  right  all  the  same  in  saying  that  they  are  stronger  than 
we." 

Maurice  was  beside  himself,  could  have  strangled  him.  The 
Prussians  stronger  than  the  French  !  The  thought  made  his 
blood  boil.  The  peasant  calmly  and  stubbornly  added  : 

"  That  don't  matter,  mind  you.  A  man  don't  give  up 
whipped  at  the  first  knock-down  he  gets.  We  shall  have  to 
keep  hammering  away  at  them  all  the  same." 

But  a  tall  figure  arose  before  them.  They  recognized  Rochas, 
still  wrapped  in  his  long  mantle,  whom  the  fugitive  sounds 
about  him,  or  it  may  have  been  the  intuition  of  disaster,  had 
awakened  from  his  uneasy  slumber.  He  questioned  them,  in- 
sisted on  knowing  all.  When  he  was  finally  brought,  with  much 
difficulty,  to  see  how  matters  stood,  stupor,  immense  and  pro- 
found, filled  his  boyish,  inexpressive  eyes.  More  than  ten 
times  in  succession  he  repeated  : 

"Beaten!     Hcnv^beaten  ?     Why  beaten  ?  " 

And  that  wasTnTcalarnity  that  had  lain  hidden  in  the  black- 
ness of  that  night  of  agony.  And  now  the  pale  dawn  was  ap- 
pearing at  the  portals  of  the  east,  heralding  a  day  heavy  with 
bitterest  sorrow  a,nd  striking  white  upon  the  silent  tents,  in  one 
of  which  began  to  be  visible  the  ashy  faces  of  Loubet  and  La- 
poulle,  of  Chouteau  and  of  Pache,  who  were  snoring  still  with 
wide-open  mouths.  Forth  from  the  thin  mists  that  were  slowly 
creeping  upward  from  the  river  off  yonder  in  the  distance  came 
the  new  day,  bringing  with  it  mourning  and  affliction. 


22  THE  DOWNFALL 


II. 

ABOUT  eight  o'clock  the  sun  dispersed  the  heavy  clouds, 
and  the  broad,  fertile  plain  about  Miilhausen  lay  basking 
in  the  warm,  bright  light  of  a  perfect  August  Sunday.  From 
the  camp,  now  awake  and  bustling  with  life,  could  be  heard 
the  bells  of  the  neighboring  parishes,  pealing  merrily  in  the 
limpid  air.  The  cheerful  Sunday  following  so  close  on  ruin  and 
defeat  had  its  own  gayety,  its  sky  was  as  serene  as  on  a  holiday. 

Gaude  suddenly  took  his  bugle  and  gave  the  call  that 
announced  the  distribution  of  rations,  whereat  Loubet  appeared 
astonished.  What  was  it?  What  did  it  mean?  Were  they  going 
to  give  out  chickens,  as  he  had  promised  Lapoulle  the  night 
before  ?  He  had  been  born  in  the  Halles,  in  the  Rue  de  la 
Cossonerie,  was  the  unacknowledged  son  of  a  small  huckster, 
had  enlisted  "  for  the  money  there  was  in  it,"  as  he  said,  after 
having  been  a  sort  of  Jack-of-all-trades,  and  was  now  the  gour- 
mand, the  epicure  of  the  company,  continually  nosing  after 
something  good  to  eat.  But  he  went  off  to  see  what  was  going 
on,  while  Chouteau,  the  company  artist,  house-painter  by  trade 
at  Belleville,  something  of  a  dandy  and  a  revolutionary  re- 
publican, exasperated  against  the  government  for  having  called 
him  back  to  the  colors  after  he  had  served  his  time,  was  cruelly 
chaffing  Pache,  whom  he  had  discovered  on  his  knees,  behind 
the  tent,  preparing  to  say  his  prayers.  There  was  a  pious  man 
for  you  !  Couldn't  he  oblige  him,  Chouteau,  by  interceding 
with  God  to  give  him  a  hundred  thousand  francs  or  some  such 
small  trifle  ?  But  Pache,  an  insignificant  little  fellow  with  a 
head  running  up  to  a  point,  who  had  come  to  them  from  some 
hamlet  in  the  wilds  of  Picardy,  received  the  other's  raillery 
with  the  uncomplaining  gentleness  of  a  martyr.  He  was  the 
butt  of  the  squad,  he  and  Lapoulle,  the  colossal  brute  who  had 
got  his  growth  in  the  marshes  of  the  Sologne,  so  utterly 
ignorant  of  everything  that  on  the  day  of  his  joining  the 
regiment  he  had  asked  his  comrades  to  show  him  the  King. 
And  although  the  terrible  tidings  of  the  disaster  at  Froesch- 
willer  had  been  known  throughout  the  camp  since  early  morning, 
the  four  men  laughed,  joked,  and  went  about  their  usual  tasks 
with  the  indifference  of  so  many  machines. 

But  there  arose  a  murmur  of  pleased  surprise.  It  was 
occasioned  by  Jean,  the  corporal,  coming  back  from  the  com- 
missary's, accompanied  by  Maurice,  with  a  load  of  firewood. 


THE  DOWNFALL  23 

So,  they  were  giving  out  wood  at  last,  the  lack  of  which  the 
night  before  had  deprived  the  men  of  their  soup !  Twelve 
hours  behind  time,  only  ! 

"  Hurrah     for     the     commissary  ! "      shouted    Chouteau. 

"  Never  mind,  so  long  as  it  is  here,"  said  Loubet.  "  Ah  ! 
won't  I  make  you  a  \>\i\\y pot-au-feu  !  " 

He  was  usually  quite  willing  to  take  charge  of  the  mess  ar- 
rangements, and  no  one  was  inclined  to  say  him  nay,  for  he 
cooked  like  an  angel.  On  those  occasions,  however,  Lapoulle 
would  be  given  the  most  extraordinary  commissions  to  execute. 

"  Go  and  look  after  the  champagne — Go  out  and  buy  some 
truffles " 

On  that  morning  a  queer  conceit  flashed  across  his  mind, 
such  a  conceit  as  only  a  Parisian  gamin  contemplating  the 
mystification  of  a  greenhorn  is  capable  of  entertaining  : 

"  Look  alive  there,  will  you  !     Come,  hand  me  the  chicken." 

"  The  chicken!  what  chicken,  where  ?" 

''Why,  there  on  the  ground  at  your  feet,  stupid  ;  the  chicken 
that  I  promised  you  last  night,  and  that  the  corporal  has  just 
brought  in." 

He  pointed  to  a  large,  white,  round  stone,  and  Lapoulle, 
speechless  with  wonder,  finally  picked  it  up  and  turned  it 
about  between  his  fingers. 

*'  A  thousand  thunders  !  Will  you  wash  the  chicken  !  More 
yet;  wash  its  claws,  wash  its  neck  !  Don't  be  afraid  of  the 
water,  lazybones  !  " 

And  for  no  reason  at  all  except  the  joke  of  it,  because  the 
prospect  of  the  soup  made  him  gay  and  sportive,  he  tossed  the 
stone  along  with  the  meat  into  the  kettle  filled  with  water. 

*'  That's  what  will  give  the  bouillon  a  flavor  !  Ah,  you  didn't 
know  that,  sacrfa  atidouille  !  You  shall  have  the  pope's  nose; 
you'll  see  how  tender  it  is." 

The  squad  roared  with  laughter  at  sight  of  Lapoulle's  face, 
who  swallowed  everything  and  was  licking  his  chops  in  antici- 
pation of  the  feast.  That  funny  dog,  Loubet,  he  was  the  man 
to  cure  one  of  the  dumps  if  anybody  could  !  And  when  the 
fire  began  to  crackle  in  the  sunlight,  and  the  kettle  commenced 
to  hum  and  bubble,  they  ranged  themselves  reverently  about  it 
in  a  circle  with  an  expression  of  cheerful  satisfaction  on  their 
faces,  watching  the  meat  as  it  danced  up  and  down  and  snif- 
fing the  appetizing  odor  that  it  exhaled.  They  were  as  hungry 
as  a  pack  of  wolves,  and  the  prospect  of  a  square  meal  made 
them  forgetful  of  all  beside.  They  had  had  to  take  a  thrash- 


24  THE  DOWNFALL 

ing,  but  that  was  no  reason  why  a  man  should  not  fill  his 
stomach.  Fires  were  blazing  and  pots  were  boiling  from  one 
end  of  the  camp  to  the  other,  and  amid  the  silvery  peals  of  the 
bells  that  floated  from  Miilhausen  steeples  mirth  and  jollity 
reigned  supreme. 

But  just  as  the  clocks  were  on  the  point  of  striking  nine  a 
commotion  arose  and  spread  among  the  men  ;  officers  came 
running  up,  and  Lieutenant  Rochas,  to  whom  Captain  Beau- 
doin  had  come  and  communicated  an  order,  passed  along  in 
front  of  the  tents  of  his  platoon  and  gave  the  command  : 

"  Pack  everything  !     Get  yourselves  ready  to  march  !  " 

"But  the  soup?" 

"  You  will  have  to  wait  for  your  soup  until  some  other  day  ; 
we  are  to  march  at  once." 

Gaude's  bugle  rang  out  in  imperious  accents.  Then  every- 
where was  consternation  ;  dumb,  deep  rage  was  depicted  on 
every  countenance.  What,  march  on  an  empty  stomach  ! 
Could  they  not  wait  a  little  hour  until  the  soup  was  ready  ! 
The  squad  resolved  that  their  bouillon  should  not  go  to  waste, 
but  it  was  only  so  much  hot  water,  and  the  uncooked  meat  was 
like  leather  to  their  teeth.  Chouteau  growled  and  grumbled, 
almost  mutinously.  Jean  had  to  exert  all  his  authority  to 
make  the  men  hasten  their  preparations.  What  was  the  great 
urgency  that  made  it  necessary  for  them  to  hurry  off  like  that  ? 
What  good  was  there  in  hazing  people  about  in  that  style, 
without  giving  them  time  to  regain  their  strength?  And  Mau- 
rice shrugged  his  shoulders  incredulously  when  someone  said 
in  his  hearing  that  they  were  about  to  march  against  the  Prus- 
sians and  settle  old  scores  with  them.  In  less  than  fifteen 
minutes  the  tents  were  struck,  folded,  and  strapped  upon  the 
knapsacks,  the  stacks  were  broken,  and  all  that  remained  of 
the  camp  was  the  dying  embers  of  the  fires  on  the  bare  ground. 

There  were  reasons  of  importance  that  had  induced  General 
Douay's  determination  to  retreat  immediately.  The  despatch 
from  the  sous-prefet  at  Schelestadt,  now  three  days  old,  was 
confirmed  ;  there  were  telegrams  that  the  fires  of  the  Prus- 
sians, threatening  Markolsheim,  had  again  been  seen,  and 
again,  another  telegram  informed  them  that  one  of  the  enemy's 
army  corps  was  crossing  the  Rhine  at  Huningue :  the  intelli- 
gence was  definite  and  abundant  ;  cavalry  and  artillery  had 
been  sighted  in  force,  infantry  had  been  seen,  hastening  from 
every  direction  to  their  point  of  concentration.  Should  they 
wait'an  hour  the  enemy  would  surely  be  in  their  rear  and 


THE  DOWNFALL  25 

retreat  on  Belfort  would  be  impossible.  And  now,  in  the 
shock  consequent  on  defeat,  after  Wissembourg  and  Froesch- 
willer,  the  general,  feeling  himself  unsupported  in  his  exposed 
position  at  the  front,  had  nothing  left  to  do  but  fall  back  in 
all  haste,  and  the  more  so  that  what  news  he  had  received  that 
morning  made  the  situation  look  even  worse  than  it  had  ap- 
peared the  night  before. 

The  staff  had  gone  on  ahead  at  a  sharp  trot,  spurring  their 
horses  in  the  fear  lest  the  Prussians  might  get  into  Altkirch 
before  them.  General  Bourgain-Desfeuilles,  aware  that  he  had 
a  hard  day's  work  before  him,  had  prudently  taken  Miilhausen 
in  his  way,  where  he  fortified  himself  with  a  copious  breakfast, 
denouncing  in  language  more  forcible  than  elegant  such  hurried 
movements.  And  Miilhausen  watched  with  sorrowful  eyes  the 
officers  trooping  through  her  streets  ;  as  the  news  of  the  retreat 
spread  the  citizens  streamed  out  of  their  houses,  deploring  the 
sudden  departure  of  the  army  for  whose  coming  they  had 
prayed  so  earnestly  :  they  were  to  be  abandoned,  then,  and  all 
the  costly  merchandise  that  was  stacked  up  in  the  railway 
station  was  to  become  the  spoil  of  the  enemy  ;  within  a  few 
hours  their  pretty  city  was  to  be  in  the  hands  of  foreigners  ? 
The  inhabitants  of  the  villages,  too,  and  of  isolated  houses,  as 
the  staff  clattered  along  the  country  roads,  planted  themselves 
before  their  doors  with  wonder  and  consternation  depicted  on 
their  faces.  What  !  that  army,  that  a  short  while  before  they 
had  seen  marching  forth  to  battle,  was  now  retiring  without 
having  fired  a  shot  ?  The  leaders  were  gloomy,  urged  their 
chargers  forward  and  refused  to  answer  questions,  as  if  ruin  and 
disaster  were  galloping  at  their  heels.  It  was  true,  then,  that 
the  Prussians  had  annihilated  the  army  and  were  streaming  into 
France  from  every  direction,  like  the  angry  waves  of  a  stream 
that  had  burst  its  barriers?  And  already  to  the  frightened 
peasants  the  air  seemed  filled  with  the  muttering  of  distant 
invasion,  rising  louder  and  more  threatening  at  every  instant, 
and  already  they  were  beginning  to  forsake  their  little  homes 
and  huddle  their  poor  belongings  into  farm-carts  ;  entire 
families  might  be  seen  fleeing  in  single  file  along  the  roads  that 
were  choked  with  the  retreating  cavalry. 

In  the  hurry  and  confusion  of  the  movement  the  io6th  was 
brought  to  a  halt  at  the  very  first  kilometer  of  their  march, 
near  the  bridge  over  the  canal  of  the  Rhone  and  Rhine. 
The  order  of  march  had  been  badly  planned  and  still  more 
badly  executed,  so  that  the  entire  2d  division  was  collected 


2<>  THE  DOWNFALL 

there  in  a  huddle,  and  the  way  was  so  narrow,  barely  more 
than  sixteen  feet  in  width,  that  the  passage  of  the  troops  was 
obstructed. 

Two  hours  elapsed,  and  still  the  io6th  stood  there  watching 
the  seemingly  endless  column  that  streamed  along  before  their 
eyes.  In  the  end  the  men,  standing  at  rest  with  ordered  arms, 
began  to  become  impatient.  Jean's  squad,  whose  position 
happened  to  be  opposite  a  break  in  the  line  of  poplars  where 
the  sun  had  a  fair  chance  at  them,  felt  themselves  particularly 
aggrieved. 

"  Guess  we  must  be  the  rear-guard,"  Loubet  observed  with 
good-natured  raillery. 

But  Chouteau  scolded :  "  They  don't  value  us  at  a  brass 
farthing,  and  that's  why  they  let  us  wait  this  way.  We  were 
here  first ;  why  didn't  we  take  the  road  while  it  was  empty  ? " 

And  as  they  began  to  discern  more  clearly  beyond  the 
canal,  across  the  wide  fertile  plain,  along  the  level  roads 
lined  with  hop-poles  and  fields  of  ripening  grain,  the  move- 
ment of  the  troops  retiring  along  the  same  way  by  which 
they  had  advanced  but  yesterday,  gibes  and  jeers  rose  on 
the  air  in  a  storm  of  angry  ridicule. 

"  Ah,  we  are  taking  the  back  track,"  Chouteau  continued. 
"  I  wonder  if  that  is  the  advance  against  the  enemy  that  they 
have  been  dinning  in  our  ears  of  late  !  Strikes  me  as  rather 
queer  !  No  sooner  do  we  get  into  camp  than  we  turn  tail 
and  make  off,  never  even  stopping  to  taste  our  soup." 

The  derisive  laughter  became  louder,  and  Maurice,  who  was 
next  to  Chouteau  in  the  ranks,  took  sides  with  him.  Why 
could  they  not  have  been  allowed  to  cook  their  soup  and  eat 
it  in  peace,  since  they  had  done  nothing  for  the  last  two  hours 
but  stand-there  in  the  road  like  so  many  sticks  ?  Their  hun- 
ger was  making  itself  felt  again  ;  they  had  a  resentful  recol- 
lection of  the  savory  contents  of  the  kettle  dumped  out  pre- 
maturely upon  the  ground,  and  they  could  see  no  necessity 
for  this  headlong  retrograde  movement,  which  appeared  to 
them  idiotic  and  cowardly.  What  chicken-livers  they  must 
be,  those  generals  ! 

But  Lieutenant  Rochas  came  along  and  blew  up  Sergeant 
Sapin  for  not  keeping  his  men  in  better  order,  and  Captain 
Beaudoin,  very  prim  and  starchy,  attracted  by  the  disturb- 
ance, appeared  upon  the  scene. 

"  Silence  in  the  ranks  !  " 

Jean,  an  old  soldier  of  the  army  of  Italy  who  knew  what 


THE  DOWNFALL  27 

discipline  was,  looked  in  silent  amazement  at  Maurice,  who 
appeared  to  be  amused  by  Chouteau's  angry  sneers ;  and  he 
wondered  how  it  was  that  a  monsieur,  a  young  man  of  his  ac- 
quirements, could  listen  approvingly  to  things — they  might 
be  true,  all  the  same — but  that  should  not  be  blurted  out  in 
public.  The  army  would  never  accomplish  much,  that  was 
certain,  if  the  privates  were  to  take  to  criticizing  the  generals 
and  giving  their  opinions. 

At  last,  after  another  hour's  waiting,  the  order  was  given  for 
the  io6th  to  advance,  but  the  bridge  was  still  so  encumbered 
by  the  rear  of  the  division  that  the  greatest  confusion  pre- 
vailed. Several  regiments  became  inextricably  mingled,  and 
whole  companies  were  swept  away  and  compelled  to  cross 
whether  they  would  or  no,  while  others,  crowded  off  to  the 
side  of  the  road,  had  to  stand  there  and  mark  time  ;  and  by 
way  of  putting  the  finishing  touch  to  the  muddle,  a  squadron 
of  cavalry  insisted  on  passing,  pressing  back  into  the  adjoining 
fields  the  stragglers  that  the  infantry  had  scattered  along  the 
roadside.  At  the  end  of  an  hour's  march  the  column  had 
entirely  lost  its  formation  and  was  dragging  its  slow  length 
along,  a  mere  disorderly  rabble. 

Thus  it  happened  that  Jean  found  himself  away  at  the  rear, 
lost  in  a  sunken  road,  together  with  his  squad,  whom  he  had 
been  unwilling  to  abandon.  The  io6th  had  disappeard,  nor 
was  there  a  man  or  an  officer  of  their  company  in  sight. 
About  them  were  soldiers,  singly  or  in  little  groups,  from  all 
the  regiments,  a  weary,  foot-sore  crew,  knocked  up  at  the 
beginning  of  the  retreat,  each  man  straggling  on  at  his  own 
sweet  will  whithersoever  the  path  that  he  was  on  might  chance 
to  lead  him.  The  sun  beat  down  fiercely,  the  heat  was  stifling, 
and  the  knapsack,  loaded  as  it  was  with  the  tent  and 
implements  of  every  description,  made  a  terrible  burden 
on  the  shoulders  of  the  exhausted  men.  To  many  of 
them  the  experience  was  an  entirely  new  one,  and  the 
heavy  great-coats  they  wore  seemed  to  them  like  vest- 
ments of  lead.  The  first  to  set  an  example  for  the 
others  was  a  little  pale  faced  soldier  with  watery  eyes  ;  he  drew 
up  beside  the  road  and  let  his  knapsack  slide  off  into  the  ditch, 
heaving  a  deep  sigh  as  he  did  so,  the  long  drawn  breath  of  a 
dying  man  who  feels  himself  coming  back  to  life. 

"  There's  a  man  who  knows  what  he  is  about,"  muttered 
Chouteau. 

He  still  continued  to  plod  along,  however,  his  back  bent]- 


28  THE  DOWNFALL 

ing  beneath  its  weary  burden,  but  when  he  saw  two  others 
relieve  themselves  as  the  first  had  done  he  could  stand  it  no 
longer.  "  Ah  !  zut/"  he  exclaimed,  and  with  a  quick  upward 
jerk  of  the  shoulder  sent  his  kit  rolling  down  an  embankment. 
Fifty  pounds  at  the  end  of  his  backbone,  he  had  had  enough 
of  it,  thank  you  !  He  was  no  beast  of  burden  to  lug  that  load 
about. 

Almost  at  the  same  moment  Loubet  followed  his  lead  and 
incited  Lapoulle  to  do  the  same.  Pache,  who  had  made  the 
sign  of  the  cross  at  every  stone  crucifix  they  came  to,  un- 
buckled the  straps  and  carefully  deposited  his  load  at  the  foot 
of  a  low  wall,  as  if  fully  intending  to  come  back  for  it  at  some 
future  time.  And  when  Jean  turned  his  head  for  a  look  at 
his  men  he  saw  that  every  one  of  them  had  dropped  his  bur- 
den except  Maurice. 

"  Take  up  your  knapsacks  unless  you  want  to  have  me  put 
under  arrest  !  " 

But  the  men,  although  they  did  not  mutiny  as  yet,  were 
silent  and  looked  ugly  ;  they  kept  advancing  along  the  narrow 
road,  pushing  the  corporal  before  them. 

"  Will  you  take  up  your  knapsacks  !  if  you  don't  I  will 
report  you." 

It  was  as  if  Maurice  had  been  lashed  with  a  whip  across 
the  face.  Report  them  !  that  brute  of  a  peasant  would  report 
those  poor  devils  for  easing  their  aching  shoulders  !  And 
looking  Jean  defiantly  in  the  face,  he,  too,  in  an  impulse  of 
blind  rage,  slipped  the  buckles  and  let  his  knapsack  fall  to 
the  road. 

"  Very  well,"  said  the  other  in  his  quiet  way,  knowing  that 
resistance  would  be  of  no  avail,  "  we  will  settle  accounts  to- 
night." 

Maurice's  feet  hurt  him  abominably  ;  the  big,  stiff  shoes,  to 
which  he  was  not  accustomed,  had  chafed  the  flesh  until  the 
blood  came.  He  was  not  strong  ;  his  spinal  column  felt  as  if 
it  were  one  long  raw  sore,  although  the  knapsack  that  had 
caused  the  suffering  was  no  longer  there,  and  the  weight  of 
his  piece,  which  he  kept  shifting  from  one  shoulder  to  the 
other,  seemed  as  if  it  would  drive  all  the  breath  from  his  body. 
Great  as  his  physical  distress  was,  however,  his  moral  agony 
was  greater  still,  for  he  was  in  the  depths  of  one  of  those  fits 
of  despair  to  which  he  was  subject.  At  Paris  the  sum  of  his 
wrongdoing  had  been  merely  the  foolish  outbreaks  of  "  the 
man,"  as  he  put  it,  of  his  weak,  boyish  nature, 


THE  DOWNFALL  2p 

of  more  serious  delinquency  should  he  be  subjected  to  tempta- 
tion, but  now,  in  this  retreat  that  was  so  like  a  rout,  in  which 
he  was  dragging  himself  along  with  weary  steps  beneath  a 
blazing  sun,  he  felt  all  hope  and  courage  vanishing  from  his 
heart,  he  was  but  a  beast  in  that  belated,  straggling  herd  that 
rilled  the  roads  and  fields.  It  was  the  reaction  after  the 
terrible  disasters  at  Wissembourg  and  Froeschwiller,  the  echo 
of  the  thunder-clap  that  had  burst  in  the  remote  distance, 
leagues  and  leagues  away,  rattling  at  the  heels  of  those  panic- 
stricken  men  who  were  flying  before  they  had  ever  seen  an 
enemy.  What  was  there  to  hope  for  now  ?  Was  it  not  all 
ended  ?  They  were  beaten  ;  all  that  was  left  them  was  to  lie 
down  and  die. 

"  It  makes  no  difference,"  shouted  Loubet,  with  the  blague 
of  a  child  of  the  Halles,  "  but  this  is  not  the  Berlin  road  we 
are  traveling,  all  the  same." 

To  Berlin  !  To  Berlin  !  The  cry  rang  in  Maurice's  ears, 
the  yell  of  the  swarming  mob  that  filled  the  boulevards  on 
that  midsummer  night  of  frenzied  madness  when  he  had 
determined  to  enlist.  The  gentle  breeze  had  become  a  de- 
vastating hurricane  ;  there  had  been  a  terrific  explosion,  and 
all  the  sanguine  temper  of  his  nation  had  manifested  itself  in 
his  absolute,  enthusiastic  confidence,  which  had  vanished 
utterly  at  the  very  first  reverse,  before  the  unreasoning  im- 
pulse of  despair  that  was  sweeping  him  away  among  those 
vagrant  soldiers,  vanquished  and  dispersed  before  they  had 
struck  a  stroke. 

"This  confounded  blunderbuss  must  weigh  a  ton,  I  think," 
Loubet  went  on.  "  This  is  fine  music  to  march  by  !  "  And 
alluding  to  the  sum  he  received  as  substitute:  "I  don't 
care  what  people  say,  but  fifteen  hundred  *  balls '  for  a  job 
like  this  is  downright  robbery.  Just  think  of  the  pipes  he'll 
smoke,  sitting  by  his  warm  fire,  the  stingy  old  miser  in  whose 
place  I'm  going  to  get  my  brains  knocked  out !  " 

"  As  for  me,"  growled  Chouteau,  "  I  had  finished  my  time. 
I  was  going  to  cut  the  service,  and  they  keep  me  for  their 
beastly  war.  Ah  !  true  as  I  stand  here,  I  must  have  been 
born  to  bad  luck  to  have  got  myself  into  such  a  mess.  And 
now  the  officers  are  going  to  let  the  Prussians  knock  us  about 
as  they  please,  and  we're  dished  and  done  for."  He  had 
been  swinging  his  piece  to  and  fro  in  his  hand  ;  in  his  dis- 
couragement he  gave  it  a  toss  and  landed  it  on  the  other  side 
of  the  hedge.  "  Eh  !  get  you  gone  for  a  dirty  bit  of  old  iron  J " 


3°  THE  DOWNFALL 

The  musket  made  two  revolutions  in  the  air  and  fell  into  a 
furrow,  where  it  lay,  long  and  motionless,  reminding  one 
somehow  of  a  corpse.  Others  soon  flew  to  join  it,  and  pres- 
ently the  field  was  filled  with  abandoned  arms,  lying  in  long 
winrows,  a  sorrowful  spectacle  beneath  the  blazing  sky.  It 
was  an  epidemic  of  madness,  caused  by  the  hunger  that  was 
gnawing  at  their  stomach,  the  shoes  that  galled  their  feet, 
their  weary  march,  the  unexpected  defeat  that  had  brought 
the  enemy  galloping  at  their  heels.  There  was  nothing  more 
to  be  accomplished  ;  their  leaders  were  looking  out  for  them- 
selves, the  commissariat  did  not  even  feed  them  ;  nothing  but 
weariness  and  worriment ;  better  to  leave  the  whole  business 
at  once,  before  it  was  begun.  And  what  then  ?  why,  the 
musket  might  go  and  keep  the  knapsack  company  ;  in  view 
of  the  work  that  was  before  them  they  might  at  least  as  well 
keep  their  arms  free.  And  all  down  the  long  line  of  stragglers 
that  stretched  almost  far  as  the  eye  could  reach  in  the  smooth 
and  fertile  country  the  muskets  flew  through  the  air  to  the  ac- 
companiment of  jeers  and  laughter  such  as  would  have  be- 
fitted the  inmates  of  a  lunatic  asylum  out  for  a  holiday. 

Loubet,  before  parting  with  his,  gave  it  a  twirl  as  a  drum- 
major  does  his  cane.  Lapoulle,  observing  what  all  his  com- 
rades were  doing,  must  have  supposed  the  performance  to  be 
some  recent  innovation  in  the  manual,  and  followed  suit,  while 
Pache,  in  the  confused  idea  of  duty  that  he  owed  to  his  reli- 
gious education,  refused  to  do  as  the  rest  were  doing  and  was 
loaded  with  obloquy  by  Chouteau,  who  called  him  a  priest's 
whelp. 

"  Look  at  the  sniveling  papist  !  And  all  because  his  old 
peasant  of  a  mother  used  to  make  him  swallow  the  holy  wafer 
every  Sunday  in  the  village  church  down  there  !  Be  off  with 
you  and  go  serve  mass  ;  a  man  who  won't  stick  with  his  com- 
rades when  they  are  right  is  a  poor-spirited  cur." 

Maurice  toiled  along  dejectedly  in  silence,  bowing  his  head 
beneath  the  blazing  sun.  At  every  step  he  took  he  seemed  to 
be  advancing  deeper  into  a  horrid,  plantom-haunted  night- 
mare ;  it  was  as  if  he  saw  a  yawning,  gaping  gulf  before  him 
toward  which  he  was  inevitably  tending  ;  it  meant  that  he  was 
suffering  himself  to  be  degraded  to  the  level  of  the  miserable 
beings  by  whom  he  was  surrounded,  that  he  was  prostituting 
his  talents  and  his  position  as  a  man  of  education. 

"  Hold  !  "  he  said  abruptly  to  Chouteau,  "  what  you  say  is 
right ;  there  is  truth  in  it." 


TtfE  DOWNFALL  31 

And  already  he  had  deposited  his  musket  upon  a  pile  of 
stones,  when  Jean,  who  had  tried  without  success  to  check  the 
shameful  proceedings  of  his  men,  saw  what  he  was  doing  and 
hurried  toward  him. 

"  Take  up  your  musket,  at  once  !  Do  you  hear  me  ?  take  it 
up  at  once  !  " 

Jean's  face  had  flushed  with  sudden  anger.  Meekest  and 
most  pacific  of  men,  always  prone  to  measures  of  conciliation, 
his  eyes  were  now  blazing  with  wrath,  his  voice  spoke  with  the 
thunders  of  authority.  His  men  had  never  before  seen  him  in 
such  a  state,  and  they  looked  at  one  another  in  astonishment. 

"  Take  up  your  musket  at  once,  or  you  will  have  me  to  deal 
with  !  " 

Maurice  was  quivering  with  anger  ;  he  let  fall  one  single 
word,  into  which  he  infused  all  the  insult  that  he  had  at  com- 
mand : 

"  Peasant ! " 

"  Yes,  that's  just  it ;  I  am  a  peasant,  while  yQ\*tyou,  are  a 
gentleman  !  And  it  is  for  that  reason  that  you  are  a  pig ! 
Yes  !  a  dirty  pig  !  I  make  no  bones  of  telling  you  of  it." 

Yells  and  cat-calls  arose  all  around  him,  but  the  corporal 
continued  with  extraordinary  force  and  dignity  : 

"  When  a  man  has  learning  he  shows  it  by  his  actions.  If 
we  are  brutes  and  peasants,  you  owe  us  the  benefit  of  your 
example,  since  you  know  more  than  we  do.  Take  up  your 
musket,  or  Norn  de  Dieu!  I  will  have  you  shot  the  first  halt 
we  make." 

Maurice  was  daunted  ;  he  stooped  and  raised  the  weapon  in 
his  hand.  Tears  of  rage  stood  in  his  eyes.  He  reeled  like  a 
drunken  man  as  he  labored  onward,  surrounded  by  his  com- 
rades, who  now  were  jeering  at  him  for  having  yielded.  Ah, 
that  Jean  !  he  felt  that  he  should  never  cease  to  hate  him,  cut 
to  the  quick  as  he  had  been  by  that  bitter  lesson,  which  he 
could  not  but  acknowledge  he  had  deserved.  And  when 
Chouteau,  marching  at  his  side,  growled  :  "  When  corporals 
are  that  way,  we  just  wait  for  a  battle  and  blow  a  hole  in  *em," 
the  landscape  seemed  red  before  his  eyes,  and  he  had  a  dis- 
tinct vision  of  himself  blowing  Jean's  brains  out  from  behind 
a  wall. 

But  an  incident  occurred  to  divert  their  thoughts  ;  Loubet 
noticed  that  while  the  dispute  was  going  On  Pache  had  also 
abandoned  his  musket,  laying  it  down  tenderly  at  the  foot  of 
an  embankment  Why  ?  What  were  the  reasons  that  had 


3  2  THE  DO  WNFALL 

made  him  resist  the  example  of  his  comrades  in  the  first  place, 
and  what  were  the  reasons  that  influenced  him  now  ?  He 
probably  could  not  have  told  himself,  nor  did  he  trouble  his 
head  about  the  matter,  chuckling  inwardly  with  silent  enjoy- 
ment, like  a  schoolboy  who,  having  long  been  held  up  as 
a  model  for  his  mates,  commits  his  first  offense.  He  strode 
along  with  a  self-contented,  rakish  air,  swinging  his  arms  ; 
and  still  along  the  dusty,  sunlit  roads,  between  the  golden 
grain  and  the  fields  of  hops  that  succeeded  one  another  with 
tiresome  monotony,  the  human  tide  kept  pouring  onward  ;  the 
stragglers,  without  arms  or  knapsacks,  were  now  but  a  shuf- 
fling, vagrant  mob,  a  disorderly  array  of  vagabonds  and 
beggars,  at  whose  approach  the  frightened  villagers  barred 
their  doors. 

Something  that  happened  just  then  capped  the  climax  of 
Maurice's  misery.  A  deep,  rumbling  noise  had  for  some  time 
been  audible  in  the  distance  ;  it  was  the  artillery,  that  had  been 
the  last  to  leave  the  camp  and  whose  leading  guns  now  wheeled 
into  sight  around  a  bend  in  the  road,  barely  giving  the  foot- 
sore infantrymen  time  to  seek  safety  in  the  fields.  It  was  an 
entire  regiment  of  six  batteries,  and  came  up  in  column,  in 
splendid  order,  at  a  sharp  trot,  the  colonel  riding  on  the  flank 
at  the  center  of  the  line,  every  officer  at  his  post.  The  guns 
went  rattling,  bounding  by,  accurately  maintaining  their  pre- 
scribed distances,  each  accompanied  by  its  caisson,  men  and 
horses,  beautiful  in  the  perfect  symmetry  of  its  arrangement  ; 
and  in  the  5th  battery  Maurice  recognized  his  cousin  Honore". 
A  very  smart  and  soldierly  appearance  the  quartermaster- 
sergeant  presented  on  horseback  in  his  position  on  the  left 
hand  of  the  forward  driver,  a  good-looking  light-haired  man, 
Adolphe  by  name,  whose  mount  was  a  sturdy  chestnut,  admira- 
bly matched  with  the  mate  that  trotted  at  his  side,  while  in  his 
proper  place  among  the  six  men  who  were  seated  on  the  chests 
of  the  gun  and  its  caisson  was  the  gunner,  Louis,  a  small,  dark 
man,  Adolphe's  comrade  ;  they  constituted  a  team,  as  it  5s 
called,  in  accordance  with  the  rule  of  the  service  that  couples 
a  mounted  and  an  unmounted  man  together.  They  all  ap- 
peared bigger  and  taller  to  Maurice,  somehow,  than  when  he 
first  made  their  acquaintance  at  the  camp,  and  the  gun,,  to 
which  four  houses  were  attached,  followed  by  the  caisson  drawn 
by  six,  seemed  tcfhim  as  bright  and  refulgent  as  a  sun,  tended 
and  cherished  as  it  \vas  by  its  atten3ants,  men  and  animals, 
who  closed  around  it^potectingly  as  if  it  na^  been  a  living 


THE  DOWNFALL  33 

sentient  relative  ;  and  then,  besides,  the  contemptuous  look 
that  Honore,  astounded  to  behold  him  among  that  unarmed 
rabble,  cast  on  the  stragglers,  distressed  him  terribly.  And 
now  the  tail  end  of  the  regiment  was  passing,  the  materiel  of 
the  batteries,  prolonges,  forges,  forage-wagons,  succeeded  by 
the  rag-tag,  the  spare  men  and  horses,  and  then  all  vanished 
in  a  cloud  of  dust  at  another  turn  in  the  road  amid  the 
gradually  decreasing  clatter  of  hoofs  and  wheels. 

"Pardif"  exclaimed  Loubet,  "it's  not  such  a  difficult 
matter  to  cut  a  dash  when  one  travels  with  a  coach  and 
four  !  " 

The  staff  had  found  Altkirch  free  from  the  enemy  ;  not  a 
Prussian  had  shown  his  face  there  yet.  It  had  been  the  gen- 
eral's wish,  not  knowing  at  what  moment  they  might  fall  upon 
his  rear,  that  the  retreat  should  be  continued  to  Dannemarie, 
and  it  was  not  until  five  o'clock  that  the  heads  of  columns 
reached  that  place.  Tents  were  hardly  pitched  and  fires 
lighted  at  eight,  when  night  closed  in,  so  great  was  the  confu- 
sion of  the  regiments,  depleted  by  the  absence  of  the  strag- 
glers. The  men  were  completely  used  up,  were  ready  to  drop 
with  fatigue  and  hunger.  Up  to  eight  o'clock  soldiers,  singly 
and  in  squads,  came  trailing  in,  hunting  for  their  commands  ; 
all  that  long  train  of  the  halt,  the  lame,  and  the  disaffected 
that  we  have  seen  scattered  along  the  roads. 

As  soon  as  Jean  discovered  where  his  regiment  lay  he  went 
in  quest  of  Lieutenant  Rochas  to  make  his  report.  He  found 
him,  together  with  Captain  Beaudoin,  in  earnest  consultation 
with  the  colonel  at  the  door  of  a  small  inn,  all  of  them  anx- 
iously waiting  to  see  what  tidings  roll-call  would  give  them  as 
to  the  whereabouts  of  their  missing  men.  The  moment  the 
corporal  opened  his  mouth  to  address  the  lieutenant,  Colonel 
de  Vineuil,  who  heard  what  the  subject  was,  called  him  up  and 
compelled  him  to  tell  the  whole  story.  On  his  long,  yellow 
face,  where  the  intensely  black  eyes  looked  blacker  still  con- 
trasted with  the  thick  snow-white  hair  and  the  long,  droop- 
ing mustache,  there  was  an  expression  of  patient,  silent  sorrow, 
and  as  the  narrative  proceeded,  how  the  miserable  wretches 
deserted  their  colors,  threw  away  arms  and  knapsacks,  and 
wandered  off  like  vagabonds,  grief  and  shame  traced  two  new 
furrows  on  his  blanched  cheeks. 

"Colonel,"  exclaimed  Captain  Beaudoin,  in  his  '"ncisivt 
voice,  not  waiting  for  his  superior  to  give  an  opinion,  *'  it  will 
be  best  to  shoot  half  a  dozen  of  those  wretches." 


34  THE  DOWNFALL 

And  the  lieutenant  nodded  his  head  approvingly.  But  the 
colonel's  despondent  look  expressed  his  powerlessness. 

"  There  are  too  many  of  them.  Nearly  seven  hundred  ! 
how  are  we  to  go  to  work,  whom  are  we  to  select  ?  And  then 
you  don't  know  it,  but  the  general  is  opposed.  He  wants  to 
be  a  father  to  his  men,  says  he-  never  punished  a  soldier  all  the 
time  he  was  in  Africa.  No,  no  ;  we  shall  have  to  overlook  it. 
I  can  do  nothing.  It  is  dreadful." 

The  captain  echoed  :  "Yes,  it  is  dreadful.  It  means  de- 
struction for  us  all." 

Jean  was  walking  off,  having  said  all  he  had  to  say,  when  he 
heard  Major  Bouroche,  whom  he  had  not  seen  where  he  was 
standing  in  the  doorway  of  the  inn,  growl  in  a  smothered  voice  : 
"  No  more  punishment,  an  end  to  discipline,  the  army  gone  to 
the  dogs  !  Before  a  week  is  over  the  scoundrels  will  be  ripe 
for  kicking  their  officers  out  of  camp,  while  if  a  few  of  them 
had  been  made  an  example  of  on  the  spot  it  might  have 
brought  the  remainder  to  their  senses." 

No  one  was  punished.  Some  officers  of  the  rear  guard  that 
was  protecting  the  trains  had  been  thoughtful  enough  to  col- 
lect the  muskets  and  knapsacks  scattered  along  the  road. 
They  were  almost  all  recovered,  and  by  daybreak  the  men 
were  equipped  again,  the  operation  being  conducted  very 
quietly,  as  if  to  hush  the  matter  up  as  much  as  possible. 
Orders  were  given  to  break  camp  at  five  o'clock,  but  reveille 
sounded  at  four  and  the  retreat  to  Belfort  was  hurriedly  con- 
tinued, for  everyone  was  certain  that  the  Prussians  were  only 
two  or  three  leagues  away.  Again  there  was  nothing  to  eat  but 
dry  biscuit,  and  as  a  consequence  of  their  brief,  disturbed  rest 
and  the  lack  of  something  to  warm  their  stomachs  the  men  were 
weak  as  cats.  Any  attempt  to  enforce  discipline  on  the  march 
that  morning  was  again  rendered  nugatory  by  the  manner  of 
their  departure. 

The  day  was  worse  than  its  predecessor,  inexpressibly 
gloomy  and  disheartening.  The  aspect  of  the  landscape  had 
changed,  they  were  now  in  a  rolling  country  where  the  roads 
they  were  always  alternately  climbing  and  descending  were 
bordered  with  woods  of  pine  and  hemlock,  while  the  narrow 
gorges  were  golden  with  tangled  thickets  of  broom.  But  panic 
and  terror  lay  heavy  on  the  fair  land  that  slumbered  there 
beneath  the  bright  sun  of  August,  and  had  been  hourly  gath- 
ering strength  since  the  preceeding  day.  A  fresh  dispatch, 
bidding  the  mayors  of  communes  warn  the  people  that  they 


THE  DOWNFALL  35 

would  do  well  to  hide  their  valuables,  had  excited  universal 
consternation.  The  enemy  was  at  hand,  then  !  Would  time 
be  given  them  to  make  their  escape  ?  And  to  all  it  seemed 
that  the  roar  of  invasion  was  ringing  in  their  ears,  coming 
nearer  and  nearer,  the  roar  of  the  rushing  torrent  that,  starting 
from  Mlilhausen,  had  grown  louder  and  more  ominous  as  it  ad- 
vanced, and  to  which  every  village  that  it  encountered  in  its 
course  contributed  its  own  alarm  amid  the  sound  of  wailing 
and  lamentation. 

Maurice  stumbled  along  as  best  he  might,  like  a  man  walking 
in  a  dream  ;  his  feet  were  bleeding,  his  shoulders  sore  with  the 
weight  of  gun  and  knapsack.  He  had  ceased  to  think,  he  ad- 
vanced automatically  into  the  vision  of  horrors  that  lay  before 
his  eyes  ;  he  had  ceased  to  be  conscious  even  of  the  shuffling 
tramp  of  the  comrades  around  him,  and  the  only  thing  that  was 
not  dim  and  unreal  to  his  sense  was  Jean,  marching  at  his  side 
and  enduring  the  same  fatigue  and  horrible  distress.  It  was 
lamentable  to  behold  the  villages  they  passed  through,  a  sight 
to  make  a  man's  heart  bleed  with  anguish.  No  sooner  did  the 
inhabitants  catch  sight  of  the  troops  retreating  in  disorderly 
array,  with  haggard  faces  and  bloodshot  eyes,  than  they  be- 
stirred themselves  to  hasten  their  flight.  They  who  had  been 
so  confident  only  a  short  half  month  ago,  those  men  and 
women  of  Alsace,  who  smiled  when  war  was  mentioned, 
certain  that  it  would  be  fought  out  in  Germany  !  And  now 
France  was  invaded,  and  it  was  among  them,  above  their 
abodes,  in  their  fields,  that  the  tempest  was  to  burst,  like  one 
of  those  dread  cataclysms  that  lay  waste  a  province  in  an  hour 
when  the  lightnings  flash  and  the  gates  of  heaven  are  opened! 
Carts  were  backed  up  against  doors  and  men  tumbled  their 
furniture  into  them  in  wild  confusion,  careless  of  what  they 
broke.  From  the  upper  windows  the  women  threw  out  a  last 
mattress,  or  handed  down  the  child's  cradle,  that  they  had 
been  near  forgetting,  whereon  baby  would  be  tucked  in 
securely  and  hoisted  to  the  top  of  the  load,  where  he  reposed 
serenely  among  a  grove  of  legs  of  chairs  and  upturned  tables. 
At  the  back  of  another  cart  was  the  decrepit  old  grandfather 
tied  with  cords  to  a  wardrobe,  and  he  was  hauled  away  for  all 
the  world  as  if  he  had  been  one  of  the  family  chattels.  Then 
there  were  those  who  did  not  own  a  vehicle,  so  they  piled  their 
household  goods  haphazard  on  a  wheelbarrow,  while  others 
carried  an  armful  of  clothing,  and  others  still  had  thought 
only  of  saving  the  clock,  which  they  went  off  pressing  to  their 


3&  THE   DOWNFALL 

bosom  as  if  it  had  been  a  darling  child.  They  found 
they  could  not  remove  everything,  and  there  were  chairs  and 
tables,  and  bundles  of  linen  too  heavy  to  carry,  lying  abandoned 
in  the  gutter.  Some  before  leaving  had  carefully  locked  their 
dwellings,  and  the  houses  had  a  deathlike  appearance,  with 
their  barred  doors  and  windows,  but  the  greater  number,  in  their 
haste  to  get  away  and  with  the  sorrowful  conviction  that  noth- 
ing would  escape  destruction,  had  left  their  poor  abodes 
open,  and  the  yawning  apertures  displayed  the  nakedness  of 
the  dismantled  rooms ;  and  those  were  the  saddest  to  behold, 
with  the  horrible  sadness  of  a  city  upon  which  some  great 
dread  has  fallen,  depopulating  it,  those  poor  houses  opened 
to  the  winds  of  heaven,  whence  the  very  cats  had  fled  as  if 
forewarned  of  the  impending  doom.  At  every  village  the 
pitiful  spectacle  became  more  heartrending,  the  number  of 
the  fugitives  was  greater,  as  they  clove  their  way  through  the 
ever  thickening  press,  with  hands  upraised,  amid  oaths  and 
tears. 

But  in  the  open  country  as  they  drew  near  Belfort,  Maurice's 
heart  was  still  more  sorely  wrung,  for  there  the  homeless  fugi- 
tives were  in  greater  numbers  and  lined  the  borders  of  the 
road  in  an  unbroken  cortege.  Ah  !  the  unhappy  ones,  who 
had  believed  that  they  were  to  find  safety  under  the  walls  of 
the  fortifications  !  The  father  lashed  the  poor  old  nag,  the 
mother  followed  after,  leading  her  crying  children  by  the  hand, 
and  in  this  way  entire  families,  sinking  beneath  the  weight  of 
their  burdens,  were  strung  along  the  white,  blinding  road  in- 
the  fierce  sunlight,  where  the  tired  little  legs  of  the  smaller 
children  were  unable  to  keep  up  with  the  headlong  flight. 
Many  had  taken  off  their  shoes  and  were  going  barefoot  so  as 
to  get  over  the  ground  more  rapidly,  and  half-dressed  mothers 
gave  the  breast  to  their  crying  babies  as  they  strode  along. 
Affrighted  faces  turned  for  a  look  backward,  trembling  hands 
were  raised  as  if  to  shut  out  the  horizon  from  their  sight,  while 
the  gale  of  panic  tumbled  their  unkempt  locks  and  sported 
with  their  ill-adjusted  garments.  Others  there  were,  farmers 
and  their  men,  who  pushed  straight  across  the  fields,  driving 
before  them  their  flocks  and  herds,  cows,  oxen,  sheep,  horses, 
that  they  had  driven  with  sticks  and  cudgels  from  their  stables  ; 
these  were  seeking  the  shelter  of  the  inaccessible  forests,  of 
the  deep  valleys  and  the  lofty  hill-tops,  their  course  marked 
by  clouds  of  dust,  as  in  the  great  migrations  of  other  days, 
\yhen  invaded  nations  mad^  way  before  their  barbarian  con- 


THE  DOWNFALL.  37 

querors.  They  were  going  to  live  in  tents,  in  some  lonely 
nook  among  the  mountains,  where  the  enemy  would  never 
venture  to  follow  them  ;  and  the  bleating  and  bellowing  of  the 
animals  and  the  trampling  of  their  hoofs  upon  the  rocks  grew 
fainter  in  the  distance,  and  the  golden  nimbus  that  overhung 
them  was  lost  to  sight  among  the  thick  pines,  while  down  in 
the  road  beneath  the  tide  of  vehicles  and  pedestrians  was  flow- 
ing still  as  strong  as  ever,  blocking  the  passage  of  the  troops, 
and  as  they  drew  near  Belfort  the  men  had  to  be  brought  to  a 
halt  again  and  again,  so  irresistible  was  the  force  of  that  torrent 
of  humanity. 

It  was  during  one  of  those  short  halts  that  Maurice  witnessed 
a  scene  that  was'destined  to  remain  indelibly  impressed  upon 
his  memory. 

Standing  by  the  road-side  was  a  lonely  house,  the  abode  of 
some  poor  peasant,  whose  lean  acres  extended  up  the  mountain- 
side in  the  rear.  The  man  had  been  unwilling  to  leave  the 
little  field  that  was  his  all  and  had  remained,  for  to  go  away 
would  have  been  to  him  like  parting  with  life.  He  could  be 
seen  within  the  low-ceiled  room,  sitting  stupidly  on  a  bench, 
watching  -'  '  l^ck.luster  eyes  the  passing  of  the  troops 

whose  x  *  ripe  grain  over  to  be  the  spoil  of 

th          .iders!  :m  was  his  wife,  still  a  young 

while  another  was  hang- 
;ng  bitterly.  Suddenly 
•  -  and  in  its  enframe- 

livered  gentlemen."  ^~~ 

Someone  had  thrown  another  armful  of  wood  or 
for  the   pleasurable  sensation  of  comfort  there  was 
bright,  dancing  flame,  and  Lapoulle,  who  wah 
luxurious  occupation  of  toasting  his  shins,  suddenly  v. 
into  an  imbecile  fit  of  laughter  without  in  the  least  i 

.nding  what  it  was  about,  whereon  Jean,  who  5 
turned  a  deaf  ear  "to  their  talk,  thought  it  time  to 

e  did  by  saying  in  a  fatherly  way : 
•'  You  had  better  hold  your  tongue,  you  fei 

ue  worse  for  you  if  anyone  should  hear  you."  ^ 

He  himself,  in  his  untutored,  common-sen 
things,  was  exasperated  by  the  stupid  int 
•nanders,  but  then  discipline  r, 
uteau  still  kept  up  a  low  muttt 

"  Be  silent,  I  say  !     Here  is  our* 

to  him  if  you  have  any  thin.. 


3**  THE  DOWNFALL 

"  Cowards  !     Cowards  !     Cowards  !  " 

Then  all  at  once  her  stature  seemed  to  dilate  ;  she  drew 
herself  up,  tragic  in  her  leanness,  in  her  poor  old  apology  for 
a  gown,  and  sweeping  the  heavens  with  her  long  arm  from 
west  to  east,  with  a  gesture  so  broad  that  it  seemed  to  fill  the 
dome  : 

**  Cowards,  the  Rhine  is  not  there  !  The  Rhine  lies  yonder  ! 
Cowards,  cowards  !  " 

They  got  under  way  again  at  last,  and  Maurice,  whose  look 
just  then  encountered  Jean's,  saw  that  the  latter's  eyes  were 
filled  with  tears,  and  it  did  not  alleviate  his  distress  to  think 
that  those  rough  soldiers,  compelled  to  swallow  an  insult  that 
they  had  done  nothing  to  deserve,  were  shamed  by  it.  He 
was  conscious  of  nothing  save  the  intolerable  aching  in  his 
poor  head,  and  in  after  days  could  never  remember  how  the 
march  of  that  day  ended,  prostrated  as  he  was  by  his  terrible 
suffering,  mental  and  physical. 

The  ;th  corps  had  spent  the  entire  day  in  getting  over  the 
fourteen  or  fifteen  miles  between  Dannemarie  and  Belfort, 
and  it  was  night  again  before  the  tro^-  'led  in  their 

bivouacs  under  the  walls  of  the  t  *me  p'ace 

whence  they  had  started  for 
enemy.      Notwithstandir 
spent  condition,  the  men 
soup  :  it  was  the  first  t' 
had 

I  in- 


,  of 
ted 


THE  DOWNFALL  3<) 

of  being  thirty  or  forty  thousand  strong.  And  to  think  that 
that  morning  they  had  been  near  blowing  up  the  viaduct  at 
Dannemarie  !  Twenty  leagues  of  fertile  country  had  been 
depopulated  by  the  most  idiotic  of  panics,  and  at  the  recol- 
lection of  what  they  had  seen  during  their  lamentable  day's 
march,  the  inhabitants  flying  in  consternation  to  the  moun- 
tains, driving  their  cattle  before  them  ;  the  press  of  vehicles, 
laden  with  household  effects,  streaming  cityward  and  sur- 
rounded by  bands  of  weeping  women  and  children,  the  sol- 
diers waxed  wroth  and  gave  way  to  bitter,  sneering  denuncia- 
tion of  their  leaders. 

"  Ah  !  it  is  too  ridiculous  to  talk  about  !  "  sputtered  Lou- 
bet,  not  stopping  to  empty  his  mouth,  brandishing  his  spoon. 
"  They  take  us  out  to  fight  the  enemy,  and  there's  not  a  soul 
to  fight  with  !  Twelve  leagues  there  and  twelve  leagues 
back,  and  not  so  much  as  a  mouse  in  front  of  us  !  All  that 
for  nothing,  just  for  the  fun  of  being  scared  to  death  !  " 

Chouteau,  who  was  noisily  absorbing  the  last  drops  in  his 
porringer,,  bellowed  his  opinion  of  the  generals,  without  men- 
tioning names  : 

"The  pigs!  what  miserable  boobies  they  are,  heinf  A 
pretty  pack  of  dunghill-cocks  the  government  has  given  us  as 
commanders !  Wonder  what  they  would  do  if  they  had  an 
army  actually  before  them,  if  they  show  the  white  feather  this 

way  when  there's  not  a  Prussian  in  sight,  hein! Ah  no,  not 

any  of  it  in  mine,  thank  you  ;  soldiers  don't  obey  such  pigeon- 
livered  gentlemen." 

Someone  had  thrown  another  armful  of  wood  on  the  fire 
for  the  pleasurable  sensation  of  comfort  there  was  in  the 
bright,  dancing  flame,  and  Lapoulle,  who  was  engaged  in  the 
luxurious  occupation  of  toasting  his  shins,  suddenly  went  off 
into  an  imbecile  fit  of  laughter  without  in  the  least  under- 
standing what  it  was  about,  whereon  Jean,  who  had  thus  far 
turned  a  deaf  ear  to  their  talk,  thought  it  time  to  interfere, 
which  he  did  by  saying  in  a  fatherly  way : 

"  You  had  better  hold  your  tongue,  you  fellows  !  It  might 
be  the  worse  for  you  if  anyone  should  hear  you." 

He  himself,  in  his  untutored,  common-sense  way  of  viewing 
things,  was  exasperated  by  the  stupid  incompetency  of  their 
commanders,  but  then  discipline  must  be  maintained,  and  as 
Chouteau  still  kept  up  a  low  muttering  he  cut  him  short : 

"  Be  silent,  I  say  !  Here  is  the  lieutenant :  address  your- 
self to  him  if  you  have  anything  to  say." 


4<>  THE  DOWNFALL 

Maurice  had  listened  in  silence  to  the  conversation  from  his 
place  a  little  to  one  side.  Ah,  truly,  the  end  was  near  ! 
Scarcely  had  they  made  a  beginning,  and  all  was  over.  That 
lack  of  discipline,  that  seditious  spirit  among  the  men  at  the 
very  first  reverse,  had  already  made  the  army  a  demoralized, 
disintegrated  rabble  that  would  melt  away  at  the  first  indica- 
tion of  catastrophe.  There  they  were,  under  the  walls  of 
Belfort,  without  having  sighted  a  Prussian,  and  they  were 
whipped. 

The  succeeding  days  were  a  period  of  monotony,  full  of  un- 
certainty and  anxious  forebodings.  To  keep  his  troops  occu- 
pied General  Douay  set  them  to  work  on  the  defenses  of  the 
place,  which  were  in  a  state  of  incompleteness  ;  there  was 
great  throwing  up  of  earth  and  cutting  through  rock.  And 
not  the  first  item  of  news!  Where  was  MacMahon's  army? 
What  was  going  on  at  Metz  ?  The  wildest  rumors  were  cur- 
rent, and  the  Parisian  journals,  by  their  system  of  printing 
news  only  to  contradict  it  the  next  day,  kept  the  country  in 
an  agony  of  suspense.  Twice,  it  was  said,  the  general  had 
written  and  asked  for  instructions,  and  had  not  even  received 
an  answer.  On  the  i2th  of  August,  however,  the  yth  corps 
was  augmented  by  the  3d  division,  which  landed  from  Italy, 
but  there  were  still  only  two  divisions  for  duty,  for  the  ist 
had  participated  in  the  defeat  at  Froeschwiller,  had  been 
swept  away  in  the  general  rout,  and  as  yet  no  one  had  learned 
where  it  had  been  stranded  by  the  current.  After  a  week  of 
this  abandonment,  of  this  entire  separation  from  the  rest  of 
France,  a  telegram  came  bringing  them  the  order  to  march. 
The  news  was  well  received,  for  anything  was  preferable  to 
me  prison  life  they  were  leading  in  Belfort.  And  while  they 
were  getting  themselves  in  readiness  conjecture  and  surmise 
were  the  order  of  the  day,  for  no  one  as  yet  knew  what  their 
destination  was  to  be,  some  saying  that  they  were  to  be  sent 
to  the  defense  of  Strasbourg,  while  others  spoke  with  con- 
fidence of  a  bold  dash  into  the  Black  Forest  that  was  to  sever 
the  Prussian  line  of  communication. 

Early  the  next  morning  the  io6th  was  bundled  into  cattle- 
cars  and  started  off  among  the  first.  The  car  that  contained 
Jean's  squad  was  particularly  crowded,  so  much  so  that  Loubet 
declared  there  was  not  even  room  in  it  to  sneeze.  It  was  a 
load  of  humanity,  sent  off  to  the  war  just  as  a  load  of  sacks 
would  have  been  dispatched  to  the  mill,  crowded  in  so  as  to 
get  the  greatest  number  into  the  smallest  space,  and  as  rations 


THE  DOWNFALL  41 

had  been  given  out  in  the  usual  hurried,  slovenly  manner  and 
the  men  had  received  in  brandy  what  they  should  have  re- 
ceived in  food,  the  consequence  was  that  they  were  all  roaring 
drunk,  with  a  drunkenness  that  vented  itself  in  obscene  songs, 
varied  by  shrieks  and  yells.  The  heavy  train  rolled  slowly 
onward  ;  pipes  were  alight  and  men  could  no  longer  see  one 
another  through  the  dense  clouds  of  smoke  ;  the  heat  and 
odor  that  emanated  from  that  mass  of  perspiring  human  flesh 
were  unendurable,  while  from  the  jolting,  dingy  van  came 
volleys  of  shouts  and  laughter  that  drowned  the  monotonous 
rattle  of  the  wheels  and  were  lost  amid  the  silence  of  the  de- 
serted fields.  And  it  was  not  until  they  reached  Langres  that 
the  troops  learned  that  they  were  being  carried  back  to 
Paris. 

"  Ah,  nom  de  Dieu  /  "  exclaimed  Chouteau,  who  already,  by 
virtue  of  his  oratorical  ability,  was  the  acknowledged  sovereign 
of  his  corner,  "  they  will  station  us  at  Charentonneau,  sure,  to 
keep  old  Bismarck  out  of  the  Tuileries." 

The  others  laughed  loud  and  long,  considering  the  joke  a 
very  good  one,  though  no  one  could  say  why.  The  most 
trivial  incidents  of  the  journey,  however,  served  to  elicit  a 
storm  of  yells,  cat -calls,  and  laughter  :  a  group  of  peasants 
standing  beside  the  roadway,  or  the  anxious  faces  of  the  peo- 
ple who  hung  about  the  way-stations  in  the  hope  of  picking  up 
some  bits  of  news  from  the  passing  trains,  epitomizing  on  a 
small  scale  the  breathless,  shuddering  alarm  that  pervaded  all 
France  in  the  presence  of  invasion.  And  so  it  happened  that 
as  the  train  thundered  by,  a  fleeting  vision  of  pandemonium, 
all  that  the  good  burghers  obtained  in  the  way  of  intelligence 
was  the  salutations  of  that  cargo  of  food  for  powder  as  it 
hurried  onward  to  its  destination,  fast  as  steam  could  carry  it. 
At  a  station  where  they  stopped,  however,  three  well-dressed 
ladies,  wealthy  bourgeoises  of  the  town,  who  distributed  cups  of 
bouillon  among  the  men,  were  received  with  great  respect. 
Some  of  the  soldiers  shed  tears,  and  kissed  their  hands  as  they 
thanked  them. 

But  as  soon  as  they  were  under  way  again  the  filthy  songs 
and  the  wild  shouts  began  afresh,  and  so  it  went  on  until,  a 
little  while  after  leaving  Chaumont,  they  met  another  train 
that  was  conveying  some  batteries  of  artillery  to  Metz.  The 
locomotives  slowed  down  and  the  soldier:;  in  the  two  trains 
fraternized  with  a  frightful  uproar.  The  artillerymen  were 
also  apparently  very  drunk  ;  they  stood  up  in  their  seats,  and 


42  THE  DOWNFALL 

thrusting  hands  and  arms  out  of  the  car-windows,  gave  this 
cry  with  a  vehemence  that  silenced  every  other  sound  : 

"  To  the  slaughter  !  to  the  slaughter  !  to  the  slaughter  ! '" 

It  was  as  if  a  cold  wind,  a  blast  from  the  charnel-house,  had 
swept  through  the  car.  Amid  the  sudden  silence  that  de- 
scended on  them  Loubet's  irreverent  voice  was  heard,  shout- 
ing : 

"  Not  very  cheerful  companions,  those  fellows  !  " 

"  But  they  are  right,"  rejoined  Chouteau,  as  if  addressing 
some  pot-house  assemblage  ;  "  it  is  a  beastly  thing  to  send  a 
lot  of  brave  boys  to  have  their  brains  blown  out  for  a  dirty 
little  quarrel  about  which  they  don't  know  the  first  word." 

And  much  more  in  the  same  strain.  He  was  the  type  of 
the  Belleville  agitator,  a  lazy,  dissipated  mechanic,  perverting 
his  fellow  workmen,  constantly  spouting  the  ill-digested  odds 
and  ends  of  political  harangues  that  he  had  heard,  belching 
forth  in  the  same  breath  the  loftiest  sentiments  and  the  most 
asinine  revolutionary  clap-trap.  He  knew  it  all,  and  tried  to 
inoculate  his  comrades  with  his  ideas,  especially  Lapoulle,  of 
whom  he  had  promised  to  make  a  lad  of  spirit. 

"  Don't  you  see,  old  man,  it's  all  perfectly  simple.  If 
Badinguet  and  Bismarck  have  a  quarrel,  let  'em  go  to  work 
with  their  fists  and  fight  it  out  and  not  involve  in  their  row 
some  hundreds  of  thousands  of  men  who  don't  even  know 
one  another  by  sight  and  have  not  the  slightest  desire  to 
fight." 

The  whole  car  laughed  and  applauded,  and  Lapoulle,  who 
did  not  know  who  Badinguet*  was,  and  could  not  have  told 
whether  it  was  a  king  or  an  emperor  in  whose  cause  he  was 
fighting,  repeated  like  the  gigantic  baby  that  he  was  : 

"Of  course,  let  'em  fight  it  out,  and  take  a  drink  together 
afterward." 

But  Chouteau  had  turned  to  Pache,  whom  he  now  proceeded 
to  take  in  hand. 

"  You  are  in  the  same  boat,  you,  who  pretend  to  believe 
in  the  good  God.  He  has  forbidden  men  to  fight,  your 
good  God  has.  Why,  then,  are  you  here,  you  great  simple- 
ton ?  " 

"  Dame .?"  Pache  doubtfully  replied,  "it  is  not  for  any  plea- 
sure of  mine  that  I  am  here — but  the  gendarmes " 

"  Oh,  indeed,  the  gendarmes  !  let  the  gendarmes  go  milk  the 
ducks  ! — say,  do  you  know  what  we  would  do,  all  of  us,  if  we 
had  the  least  bit  of  spirit  ?  I'll  tell  you  ;  just  the  minute  that 

*  Napoleon  TIT. 


THE  DOWNFALL  43 

they  land  us  from  the  cars  we'd  skip  ;  yes,  we'd  go  straight 
home,  and  leave  that  pig  of  a  Badinguet  and  his  gang  of  two- 
for-a-penny  generals  to  settle  accounts  with  their  beastly 
Prussians  as  best  they  may  !  " 

There  was  a  storm  of  bravos ;  the  leaven  of  perversion  was 
doing  its  work  and  it  was  Chouteau's  hour  of  triumph,  airing 
his  muddled  theories  and  ringing  the  changes  on  the  Republic, 
the  Rights  of  Man,  the  rottenness  of  the  Empire,  which  must 
be  destroyed,  and  the  treason  of  their  commanders,  who,  as  it 
had  been  proved,  had  sold  themselves  to  the  enemy  at  the 
rate  of  a  million  a  piece.  He  was  a  revolutionist,  he  boldly 
declared  ;  the  others  could  not  even  say  that  they  were  re- 
publicans, did  not  know  what  their  opinions  were,  in  fact, 
except  Loubet,  the  concocter  of  stews  and  hashes,  and  he  had 
an  opinion,  for  he  had  been  for  soup,  first,  last,  and  always  ;  but 
they  all,  carried  away  by  his  eloquence,  shouted  none  the  less 
lustily  against  the  Emperor,  their  officers,  the  whole  d — d  shop, 
which  they  would  leave  the  first  chance  they  got,  see  if  they 
wouldn't  !  And  Chouteau,  while  fanning  the  flame  of  their 
discontent,  kept  an  eye  on  Maurice,  the  fine  gentleman,  who 
appeared  interested  and  whom  he  was  proud  to  have  for  a 
companion  ;  so  that,  by  way  of  inflaming  his  passions  also,  it 
occurred  to  him  to  make  an  attack  on  Jean,  who  had  thus  far 
been  tranquilly  watching  the  proceedings  out  of  his  half- 
closed  eyes,  unmoved  among  the  general  uproar.  If  there 
was  any  remnant  of  resentment  in  the  bosom  of  the  volunteer 
since  the  time  when  the  corporal  had  inflicted  such  a  bitter 
humiliation  on  him  by  forcing  him  to  resume  his  abandoned 
musket,  now  was  a  fine  chance  to  set  the  two  men  by  the 
ears. 

"  I  know  some  folks  who  talk  of  shooting  us,"  Chouteau 
continued,  with  an  ugly  look  at  Jean ;  "  dirty,  miserable 
skunks,  who  treat  us  worse  than  beasts,  and,  when  a  man's 
back  is  broken  with  the  weight  of  his  knapsack  and  Brown- 
bess,  ate !  ate!  object  to  his  planting  them  in  the  fields  to  see 
if  a  new  crop  will  grow  from  them.  What  do  you  suppose 
they  would  say,  comrades,  hein  !  now  that  we  are  masters,  if 
we  should  pitch  them  all  out  upon  the  track,  and  teach  them 
better  manners  ?  That's  the  way  to  do,  hein !  We'll  show 
'em  that  we  won't  be  bothered  any  longer  with  their  mangy 
wars.  Down  with  Badinguet's  bed-bugs  !  Death  to  the  curs 
who  want  to  make  us  fight !  " 

Jean's  face  was  aflame  with   the  crimson   tide   that  never 


44  THE   DOWNFALL 

failed  to  rush  to  his  cheeks  in  his  infrequent  fits  of  anger.  He 
rose,  wedged  in  though  as  he  was  between  his  neighbors  as 
firmly  as  in  a  vise,  and  his  blazing  eyes  and  doubled  fists  had 
such  a  look  of  business  about  them  that  the  other  quailed. 

"•  Tonnerre  de  Dieu  !  will  you  be  silent,  pig  !  For  hours  I 
have  sat  here  without  saying  anything,  because  we  have  no 
longer  any  leaders,  and  I  could  not  even  send  you  to  the 
guard-house.  Yes,  there's  no  doubt  of  it,  it  would  be  a  good 
thing  to  shoot  such  men  as  you  and  rid  the  regiment  of  the 
vermin.  But  see  here,  as  there's  no  longer  any  discipline,  I 
will  attend  to  your  case  myself.  There's  no  corporal  here 
now,  but  a  hard-fisted  fellow  who  is  tired  of  listening  to  your 
jaw,  and  he'll  see  if  he  can't  make  you  keep  your  potato-trap 
shut.  Ah  !  you  d — d  coward  !  You  won't  fight  yourself  and 
you  want  to  keep  others  from  fighting !  Repeat  your  words 
once  and  I'll  knock  your  head  off !  " 

By  this  time  the  whole  car,  won  over  by  Jean's  manly  atti- 
tude, had  deserted  Chouteau,  who  cowered  back  in  his  seat  as 
if  not  anxious  to  face  his  opponent's  big  fists. 

"  And  I  care  no  more  for  Badinguet  than  I  do  for  you,  do 
you  understand  ?  I  despise  politics,  whether  they  are  repub- 
lican or  imperial,  and  now,  as  in  the  past,  when  I  used  to  cul- 
tivate my  little  farm,  there  is  but  one  thing  that  I  wish  for, 
and  that  is  the  happiness  of  all,  peace  and  good-order,  free- 
dom for  every  man  to  attend  to  his  affairs.  No  one  denies 
that  war  is  a  terrible  business,  but  that  is  no  reason  why  a  man 
should  not  be  treated  to  the  sight  of  a  firing-party  when  he 
comes  trying  to  dishearten  people  who  already  have  enough 
to  do  to  keep  their  courage  up.  Good  Heavens,  friends,  how 
it  makes  a  man's  pulses  leap  to  be  told  that  the  Prussians  are 
in  the  land  and  that  he  is  to  go  help  drive  them  out!  " 

Then,  with  the  customary  fickleness  of  a  mob,  the  soldiers 
applauded  the  corporal,  who  again  announced  his  determina- 
tion to  thrash  the  first  man  of  his  squad  who  should  declare 
non  combatant  principles.  Bravo,  the  corporal!  they  would 
soon  settle  old  Bismarck's  hash  !  And,  in  the  midst  of  the 
wild  ovation  of  which  he  was  the  object,  Jean,  who  had  re- 
covered his  self-control,  turned  politely  to  Maurice  and 
addressed  him  as  if  he  had  not  been  one  of  his  men  : 

"  Monsieur,  you  cannot  have  anything  in  common  with 
those  poltroons.  Come,  we  haven't  had  a  chance  at  them  yet ; 
we  are  the  boys  who  will  give  them  a  good  basting  yet,  those 
Prussians  1 " 


THE  DOWNFALL  45 

It  seemed  to  Maurice  at  that  moment  as  if  a  ray  of  cheering 
sunshine  had  penetrated  his  heart.  He  was  humiliated,  vexed 
with  himself.  What !  that  man  was  nothing  more  than  an 
uneducated  rustic  !  And  he  remembered  the  fierce  hatred 
that  had  burned  in  his  bosom  the  day  he  was  compelled  to 
pick  up  the  musket  that  he  had  thrown  away  in  a  moment  of 
madness.  But  he  also  remembered  his  emotion  at  seeing  the 
two  big  tears  that  stood  in  the  corporal's  eyes  when  the  old 
grandmother,  her  gray  hairs  streaming  in  the  wind,  had  so 
bitterly  reproached  them  and  pointed  to  the  Rhine  that  lay 
beneath  the  horizon  in  the  distance.  Was  it  the  brotherhood 
of  fatigue  and  suffering  endured  in  common  that  had  served 
thus  to  dissipate  his  wrathful  feelings  ?  He  was  Bonapartist 
by  birth,  and  had  never  thought  of  the  Republic  except  in  a 
speculative,  dreamy  way;  his  feeling  toward  the  Emperor, 
personally,  too,  inclined  to  friendliness,  and  he  was  favorable 
to  the  war,  the  very  condition  of  national  existence,  the  great 
regenerative  school  of  nationalities.  Hope,  all  at  once,  with 
one  of  those  fitful  impulses  of  the  imagination  that  were  com- 
mon in  his  temperament,  revived  in  him,  while  the  enthusiastic 
ardor  that  had  impelled  him  to  enlist  one  night  again  surged 
through  his  veins  and  swelled  his  heart  with  confidence  of 
victory. 

"  Why,  of  course,  Corporal,"  he  gayly  replied, "  we  shall  give 
them  a  basting  !  " 

And  still  the  car  kept  rolling  onward  with  its  load  of  human 
freight,  filled  with  reeking  smoke  of  pipes  and  emanations  of 
the  crowded  men,  belching  its  ribald  songs  and  drunken  shouts 
among  the  expectant  throngs  of  the  stations  through  which  it 
passed,  among  the  rows  of  white-faced  peasants  who  lined  the 
iron-way.  On  the  2oth  of  August  they  were  at  the  Pantin 
Station  in  Paris,  and  that  same  evening  boarded  another  train 
which  landed  them  next  day  at  Rheims  en  route  for  the  camp 
at  Chalons. 


III. 

MAURICE  was  greatly  surprised  when  the   io6th,  leaving 
the   cars  at  Rheims,   received  orders  to  go  into  camp 
there.      So    they   were    not    to    go    to    Chalons,    then,  and 
unite  with  the  army  there  ?     And  when,  two  hours  later,  his 
regiment  had  stacked  muskets  a  league  or  so  from  the  city 


4&  THE  DOWNFALL 

over  in  the  direction  of  Courcelles,  in  the  broad  plain  that  lies 
along  the  canal  between  the  Aisne  and  Marne,  his  astonish- 
ment was  greater  still  to  learn  that  the  entire  army  of  Chalons 
had  been  falling  back  all  that  morning  and  was  about  to 
bivouac  at  that  place.  From  one  extremity  of  the  horizon  to 
the  other,  as  far  as  Saint  Thierry  and  Menvillette,  even 
beyond  the  Laon  road,  the  tents  were  going  up,  and  when  it 
should  be  night  the  fires  of  four  army-corps  would  be  blazing 
there.  It  was  evident  that  the  plan  now  was  to  go  and  take  a 
position  under  the  walls  of  Paris  and  there  await  the  Prus- 
sians ;  and  it  was  fortunate  that  that  plan  had  received  the 
approbation  of  the  government,  for  was  it  not  the  wisest  thing 
they  could  do  ? 

Maurice  devoted  the  afternoon  of  the  2ist  to  strolling  about 
the  camp  in  search  of  news.  The  greatest  freedom  prevailed  ; 
iscipline  appeared  to  have  been  relaxed  still  further,  the  men 
went  and  came  at  their  own  sweet  will.  He  found  no  obstacle 
in  the  way  of  his  return  to  the  city,  where  he  desired  to  cash  a 
money-order  for  a  hundred  francs  that  his  sister  Henriette  had 
sent  him.  While  in  a  cafe  he  heard  a  sergeant  telling  of  the 
disaffection  that  existed  in  the  eighteen  battalions  of  the  garde 
mobile  of  the  Seine,  which  had  just  been  sent  back  to  Paris  ; 
the  6th  battalion  had  been  near  killing  their  officers.  Not  a 
day  passed  at  the  camp  that  the  generals  were  not  insulted, 
and  since  Froeschwiller  the  soldiers  had  ceased  to  give  Marshal 
MacMahon  the  military  salute.  The  cafe  resounded  with  the 
sound  of  voices  in  excited  conversation  ;  a  violent  dispute 
arose  between  two  sedate  burghers  in  respect  to  the  number 
of  men  that  MacMahon  would  have  at  his  disposal.  One  of 
them  made  the  wild  assertion  that  there  would  be  three  hun- 
dred thousand  ;  the  other,  who  seemed  to  be  more  at  home 
upon  the  subject,  stated  the  strength  of  the  four  corps  :  the 
1 2th,  which  had  just  been  made  complete  at  the  camp  with 
great  difficulty  with  the  assistance  of  provisional  regiments 
and  a  division  of  infanterie  de  marine  ;  the  ist,  which  had  been 
coming  straggling  in  in  fragments  ever  since  the  i4th  of  the 
month  and  of  which  they  were  doing  what  they  could  to  perfect 
the  organization  ;  the  5th,  defeated  before  it  had  ever  fought 
a  battle,  swept  away  and  broken  up  in  the  general  panic,  and 
finally,  the  yth,  then  landing  from  the  cars,  demoralized  like 
all  the  rest  and  minus  its  ist  division,  of  which  it  had  just 
recovered  the  remains  at  Rheims  ;  in  all,  one  hundred  and 
twenty  thousand  at  the  outside,  including  the  cavalry,  Bon- 


THE  DOWNFALL  47 

nematn's  and  Margueritte's  divisions.  When  the  sergeant 
took  a  hand  in  the  quarrel,  however,  speaking  of  the  army  in 
terms  of  the  utmost  contempt,  characterizing  it  as  a  ruffianly 
rabble,  with  no  esprit  de  corps,  with  nothing  to  keep  it  to- 
gether, —a  pack  of  greenhorns  with  idiots  to  conduct  them, 
to  the  slaughter, — the  two  bourgeois  began  to  be  uneasy, 
and  fearing  there  might  be  trouble  brewing,  made  themselves 
scarce. 

When  outside  upon  the  street  Maurice  hailed  a  newsboy 
and  purchased  a  copy  of  every  paper  he  could  lay  hands  on, 
stuffing  some  in  his  pockets  and  reading  others  as  he  walked 
along  under  the  stately  trees  that  line  the  pleasant  avenues  of 
the  old  city.  Where  could  the  German  armies  be  ?  It  seemed 
as  if  obscurity  had  suddenly  swallowed  them  up.  Two  were 
over  Metz  way,  of  course:  the  first,  the  one  commanded  by 
General  von  Steinmetz,  observing  the  place;  the  second,  that 
of  Prince  Frederick  Charles,  aiming  to  ascend  the  right  bank 
of  the  Moselle  in  order  to  cut  Bazaine  off  from  Paris.  But  the 
third  army,  that  of  the  Crown  Prince  of  Prussia,  the  army  that 
had  been  victorious  at  Wissembourg  and  Froeschwiller  and 
had  driven  our  ist  and  5th  corps,  where  was  it  now,  where 
was  it  to  be  located  amid  the  tangled  mess  of  contradictory 
advices?  Was  it  still  in  camp  at  Nancy,  or  was  it  true  that  it 
had  arrived  before  Chalons,  and  was  that  the  reason  why  we 
had  abandoned  our  camp  there  in  such  hot  haste,  burning  our 
stores,  clothing,  forage,  provisions,  everything — property  of 
which  the  value  to  the  nation  was  beyond  compute  ?  And 
when  the  different  plans  with  which  our  generals  were  credited 
came  to  be  taken  into  consideration,  then  there  was  more  con- 
fusion, a  fresh  set  of  contradictory  hypotheses  to  be  encoun- 
tered. Maurice  had  until  now  been  cut  off  in  a  measure  from 
the  outside  world,  and  now  for  the  first  time  learned  what  had 
been  the  course  of  events  in  Paris ;  the  blasting  effect  of 
defeat  upon  a  populace  that  had  been  confident  of  victory,  the 
terrible  commotions  in  the  streets,  the  convoking  of  the  Cham- 
bers, the  fall  of  the  liberal  ministry  that  had  effected  the  ple- 
biscite, the  abrogation  of  the  Emperor's  rank  as  General  of  the 
Army  and  the  transfer  of  the  supreme  command  to  Marshal 
Bazaine.  Tine  Emperor  had  been  present  at  the  camp  of 
Chalons  since  the  i6th,  and  all  the  newspapers  were  filled 
with  a  grand  council  that  had  been  held  on  the  lyth,  at  which 
Prince  Napoleon  and  some  of  the  generals  were  present,  but 
none  of  them  were  agreed  upon  the  decisions  that  had  been 


48  THE  DOWNFALL 

arrived  at  outside  of  the  resultant  facts,  which  were  that 
General  Trochu  had  been  appointed  governor  of  Paris  and 
Marshal  MacMahon  given  the  command  of  the  army  of 
Chalons,  and  the  inference  from  this  was  that  the  Emperor  was 
to  be  shoni  of  all  his  authority.  Consternation,  irresolution, 
conflicting  plans  that  were  laid  aside  and  replaced  by  fresh 
ones  hour  by  hour  ;  these  were  the  things  that  everybody  felt 
were  in  the  air.  And  ever  and  always  the  question  :  Where 
were  the  German  armies  ?  Who  were  in  the  right,  those  who 
asserted  that  Bazaine  had  no  force  worth  mentioning  in  front  of 
him  and  was  free  to  make  his  retreat  through  the  towns  of  the 
north  whenever  he  chose  to  do  so,  or  those  who  declared  that 
he  was  already  besieged  in  Metz  ?  There  was  a  constantly 
recurring  rumor  of  a  series  of  engagements  that  had  raged 
during  an  entire  week,  from  the  i4th  until  the  2oth,  but  it 
failed  to  receive  confirmation. 

Maurice's  legs  ached  with  fatigue;  he  went  and  sat  down  upon 
a  bench.  Around  him  the  life  of  the  city  seemed  to  be  going 
on  as  usual  ;  there  were  nursemaids  seated  in  the  shade  of 
the  handsome  trees  watching  the  sports  of  their  little  charges, 
small  property  owners  strolled  leisurely  about  the  walks 
enjoying  their  daily  constitutional.  He  had  taken  up  his  papers 
again,  when  his  eyes  lighted  on  an  article  that  had  escaped 
his  notice,  the  "  leader  "  in  a  rabid  republican  sheet  ;  then 
everything  was  made  clear  to  him.  The  paper  stated  that  at 
the  council  of  the  iyth  at  the  camp'of  Chalons  the  retreat  of 
the  army  on  Paris  had  been  fully  decided  on,  and  that  General 
Trochu's  appointment  to  the  command  of  the  city  had  no 
other  object  than  to  facilitate  the  Emperor's  return  ;  but  those 
resolutions,  the  journal  went  on  to  say,  were  rendered  una- 
vailing by  the  attitude^-of  the  Empress-regent  and  the  new 
ministry.  It  was  the  "Empress's  opinion  that  the  Emperor's 
return  would  certainly  produce  a  revolution  ;  she  was  reported 
to  have  said:  "  He  will  never  reach  the  Tuileries  alive." 
Starting  with  these  premises  she  insisted  with  the  utmost 
urgency  that  the  army  should  advance,  at  every  risk,  whatever 
might  be  the  cost  of  human  life,  and  effect  a  junction  with  the 
army  of  Metz,  in  which  course  she  was  supported  moreover 
by  General  de  Palikao,  the  Minister  of  War,  who  had  a  plan 
of  his  own  for  reaching  Bazaine  by  a  rapid  and  victorious 
march.  And  Maurice,  letting  his  paper  fall  from  his  hand, 
his  eyes  bent  on  space,  believed  that  he  now  had  the  key  to 
the  entire  mystery,'  *he  two  conflicting  plans,  MacMahon's 


THE   DOWNFALL  49 

hesitation  to  undertake  that  dangerous  flank  movement  with 
the  unreliable  army  at  his  command,  the  impatient  orders  that 
came  to  him  from  Paris,  each  more  tart  and  imperative  than 
its  predecessor,  urging  him  on  to  that  mad,  desperate  enter- 
prise. Then,  as  the  central  figure  in  that  tragic  conflict,  the 
vision  of  the  Emperor  suddenly  rose  distinctly  before  his  inner 
eyes,  deprived  of  his  imperial  authority,  which  he  had  com- 
mitted to  the  hands  of  the  Empress-regent,  stripped  of  his  mili- 
tary command,  which  he  had  conferred  on  Marshal  Bazaine  ; 
a  nullity,  the  vague  and  unsubstantial  shadow  of  an  emperor,  a 
nameless,  cumbersome  nonentity  whom  no  one  knew  what  to  do 
with,  whom  Paris  rejected  and  who  had  ceased  to  have  a  posi- 
tion in  the  army,  for  he  had  pledged  himself  to  issue  no 
further  orders. 

The  next  morning,  however,  after  a  rainy  night  through 
which  he  slept  outside  his  tent  on  the  bare  ground,  wrapped 
in  his  rubber  blanket,  Maurice  was  cheered  by  the  tidings 
that  the  retreat  on  Paris  had  finally  carried  the  day.  Another 
council  had  been  held  during  the  night,  it  was  said,  at  which 
M.  Rouher,  the  former  vice- Emperor,  had  been  present';  he 
had  been  sent  by  the  Empress  to  accelerate  the  movement  to- 
ward Verdun,  and  it  would  seem  that  the  marshal  had  succeeded 
in  convincing  him  of  the  rashness  of  such  an  undertaking.  Were 
there  unfavorable  tidings  from  Bazaine  ?  no  one  could  say  for 
certain.  But  the  absence  of  news  was  itself  a  circumstance  of 
evil  omen,  and  all  among  the  most  influei  tial  of  the  generals 
had  cast  their  vote  for  the  march  on  Paris,  for  which  they 
would  be  the  relieving  army.  And  Maurice,  happy  in  the 
conviction  that  the  retrograde  movement  would  commence 
not  later  than  the  morrow,  since  the  or  Urs  for  it  were  said  to 
be  already  issued,  thought  he  would  gratify  a  boyish  longing 
that  had  been  troubling  him  '  j  __  time  past,  to  give  the 
go-by  for  one  day  to  soldier's  fai^,  wif  and  eat  his  break- 
fast off  a  cloth,  with  the  accompaniment  ji  piate,  knife  and 
fork,  carafe,  and  a  bottle  of  good  wine,  things  of  which  it 
seemed  to  him  that  he  had  been  deprive  f  r  months  and 
months.  He  had  money  in  his  pocket,  so  off  he  started 
with  quickened  pulse,  as  if  going  out  for  a  lark,  to  search  for 
a  place  of  entertainment. 

It  was  just  at  the  entrance  of  the  village  of  Courcelles, 
across  the  canal,  that  he  found  the  breakfast  for  which  his 
mouth  was  watering.  He  had  been  told  the  day  before  that 
the  Emperor  had  taken  up  his  quarters  in  one  of  the  houses  of 


5°  THE  DOWNFALL 

the  village,  and  having  gone  to  stroll  there  out  of  curiosity,  now 
remembered  to  have  seen  at  the  junction  of  the  two  roads  this 
little  inn  with  its  arbor,  the  trellises  of  which  were  loaded 
with  big  clusters  of  ripe,  golden,  luscious  grapes.  There  was 
an  array  of  green-painted  tables  set  out  in  the  shade  of  the 
luxuriant  vine,  while  through  the  open  door  of  the  vast 
kitchen  he  had  caught  glimpses  of  the  antique  clock,  the 
colored  prints  pasted  on  the  walls,  and  the  comfortable  land- 
lady watching  the  revolving  spit.  It  was  cheerful,  smiling, 
hospitable  ;  a  regular  type  of  the  good  old-fashioned  French 
hostelry. 

A  pretty,  white-necked  waitress  came  up  and  asked  him 
with  a  great  display  of  flashing  teeth  : 

"  Will  monsieur  have  breakfast  ?  " 

"  Of  course  I  will  !  Give  me  some  eggs,  a  cutlet,  and 
cheese.  And  a  bottle  of  white  wine  !  " 

She  turned  to  go  ;  he  called  her  back.  "  Tell  me,  is  it  not 
in  one  of  those  houses  that  the  Emperor  has  his  quarters  ?  " 

"  There,  monsieur,  in  that  one  right  before  you.  Only  you 
can't  see  it,  for  it  is  concealed  by  the  high  wall  with  the  over- 
hanging trees." 

He  loosed  his  belt  so  as  to  be  more  at  ease  in  his  capote, 
and  entering  the  arbor,  chose  his  table,  on  which  the  sunlight, 
finding  its  way  here  and  there  through  the  green  canopy 
above,  danced  in  little  golden  spangles.  And  constantly  his 
thoughts  kept  returning  to  that  high  wall  behind  which  was 
the  Emperor.  A  most  mysterious  house  it  was,  indeed, 
shrinking  from  the  public  gaze,  even  its  slated  roof  invisible. 
Its  entrance  was  on  the  other  side,  upon  the  village  street,  a 
narrow  winding  street  between  dead-walls,  without  a  shop, 
without  even  a  window  to  enliven  it.  The  small  garden  in 
the  rear,  among  the  sparse  dwellings  that  environed  it,  was 
like  an  island  of  dense  verdure.  And  across  the  road  he 
noticed  a  -spacious  courtyard,  surrounded  by  sheds  and 
stables,  crowded  with  a  countless  train  of  carriages  and  bag- 
gage-wagons, among  which  men  and  horses,  coming  and 
going,  kept  up  an  unceasing  bustle. 

"  Are  those  all  for  the  service  of  the  Emperor  ? "  he  in- 
quired, meaning  to  say  something  humorous  to  the  girl,  who 
was  laying  a  snow-white  cloth  upon  the  table. 

"  Yes,  for  the  Emperor  himself,  and  no  one  else  !  "  she 
pleasantly  replied,  glad  of  a  chance  to  show  her  white  teeth 
once  more  -  and  then  she  went  on  to  enumerate  the  suite  from 


THE  DOWNFALL  51 

information  that  she  had  probably  received  from  the  stable- 
men, who  had  been  coming  to  the  inn  to  drink  since  the  pre- 
ceding day ;  there  were  the  staff,  comprising  twenty-five 
officers,  the  sixty  cent-gardes  and  the  half-troop  of  guides  for 
escort  duty,  the  six  gendarmes  of  the  provost-guard  ;  then  the 
household,  seventy-three  persons  in  all,  chamberlains,  attend- 
ants for  the  table  and  the  bedroom,  cooks  and  scullions  ;  then 
four  saddle-horses  and  two  carriages  for  the  Emperor's  per- 
sonal use,  ten  horses  for  the  equerries,  eight  for  the  grooms 
and  outriders,  not  mentioning  forty-seven  post-horses  ;  then  a 
char  a  bane  and  twelve  baggage  wagons,  two  of  which,  appro- 
priated to  the  cooks,  had  particularly  excited  her  admiration 
by  reason  of  the  number  and  variety  of  the  utensils  they  con- 
tained, all  in  the  most  splendid  order. 

"  Oh,  sir,  you  never  saw  such  stew-pans  !  they  shone  like 
silver.  And  all  sorts  of  dishes,  and  jars  and  jugs,  and  lots  of 
things  of  which  it  would  puzzle  me  to  tell  the  use  !  And  a 
cellar  of  wine,  claret,  burgundy,  and  champagne — yes  !  enough 
to  supply  a  wedding  feast." 

The  unusual  luxury  of  the  snowy  table-cloth  and  the  white 
wine  sparkling  in  his  glass  sharpened  Maurice's  appetite  ;  he 
devoured  his  two  poached  eggs  with  a  zest  that  made  him  fear 
he  was  developing  epicurean  tastes.  When  he  turned  to  the 
*eft  and  looked  out  through  the  entrance  of  the  leafy  arbor  he 
had  before  him  the  spacious  plain,  covered  with  long  rows  of 
tents  :  a  busy,  populous  city  that  had  risen  like  an  exhalation 
from  the  stubble-fields  between  Rheims  city  and  the  canal. 
A  few  clumps  of  stunted  trees,  three  wind-mills  lifting  their 
skeleton  arms  in  the  air,  were  all  there  was  to  relieve  the 
monotony  of  the  gray  waste,  but  above  the  huddled  roofs  of 
Rheims,  lost  in  the  sea  of  foliage  of  the  tall  chestnut-trees,  the 
huge  bulk  of  the  cathedral  with  its  slender  spires  was  pro- 
filed against  the  blue  sky,  looming  colossal,  notwithstanding 
the  distance,  beside  the  modest  houses.  Memories  of  school 
and  boyhood's  days  came  over  him,  the  tasks  he  had  learned 
and  recited  :  all  about  the  sacre  of  our  kings,  the  sainte 
ampoule,  Clovis,  Jeanne  d'Arc,  all  the  long  list  of  glories  of  old 
France. 

Then  Maurice's  thoughts  reverted  again  to  that  unassuming 
bourgeoise  house,  so  mysterious  in  its  solitude,  and  its  imperial 
occupant  ;  and  directing  his  eyes  upon  the  high,  yellow  wall 
he  was  surprised  to  read,  scrawled  there  in  great,  awkward 
letters,  the  legend  :  Vive  Napoleon  !  among  the  meaningless 


52  THE  DOWNFALL 

obscenities  traced  by  schoolboys.  Winter's  storms  and 
summer's  sun  had  half  effaced  the  lettering  ;  evidently  the  in- 
scription was  very  ancient.  How  strange,  to  see  upon  that 
wail  that  old  heroic  battle-cry,  which  probably  had  been  placed 
there  in  honor  of  the  uncle,  not  of  the  nephew  !  It  brought 
all  his  childhood  back  to  him,  and  Maurice  was  again  a  boy, 
scarcely  out  of  his  mother's  arms,  down  there  in  distant  Chene- 
Populeux,  listening  to  the  stories  of  his  grandfather,  a  veteran 
of  the  Grand  Army.  •  His  mother  was  dead,  his  father,  in  the 
inglorious  days  that  followed  the  collapse  of  the  empire,  had 
been  compelled  to  accept  a  humble  position  as  coliector,'and 
there  the  grandfather  lived,  with  nothing  to  support  him  save 
his  scanty  pension,  in  the  poor  home  of  the  small  public  func- 
tionary, his  sole  comfort  to  fight  his  battles  o'er  again  for  the 
benefit  of  his  two  little  twin  grandchildren,  the  boy  and  the 
girl,  a  pair  of  golden-haired  youngsters  to  whom  he  was  in 
some  sense  a  mother.  He  would  place  Maurice  on  his  right 
knee  and  Henriette  on  his  left,  and  then  for  hours  on  end  the 
narrative  would  run  on  in  Homeric  strain. 

But  small  attention  was  paid  to  dates  ;  his  story  was  of  the 
dire  shock  of  conflicting  nations,  and  was  not  to  be  hampered 
by  the  minute  exactitude  of  tbe  historian.  Successively  or 
together  English,  Austrians,  1'russians,  Russians  appeared 
upon  the  scene,  according  to  the  then  prevailing  condition  of 
the  ever-changing  alliances,  and  it  was  not  always  an  easy 
matter  to  tell  why  one  nation  received  a  beating  in  preference 
to  another,  but  beaten  they  all  were  in  the  end,  inevitably 
beaten  from  the  very  commencement,  in  a  whirlwind  of  genius 
and  heroic  daring  that  swept  great  armies  like  chaff  from  off 
the  earth.  There  was  Marengo,  the  classic  battle  of  the  plain, 
with  the  consummate  generalship  of  its  broad  plan  and  the 
faultless  retreat  of  the  battalions  by  squares,  silent  and  im- 
passive under  the  enemy's  terrible  fire  ;  the  battle,  famous  in 
story,  lost  at  three  o'clock  and  won  at  six,  where  the  eight 
hundred  grenadiers  of  the  Consular  Guard  withstood  the 
onset  of  the  entire  Austrian  cavalry,  where  Desaix  arrived 
to  change  impending  defeat  to  glorious  victory  and  die. 
There  was  Austerlitz,  with  its  sun  of  glory  shining  forth  from 
amid  the  wintry  sky,  Austerlitz,  commencing  with  the  capture 
of  the  plateau  of  Pratzen  and  ending  with  the  frightful  catas- 
trophe on  the  frozen  lake,  where  an  entire  Russian  corps,  men, 
guns,  horses,  went  crashing  through  the  ice,  while  Napoleon, 
who  in  his  divine  omniscience  had  foreseen  it  all,  of  course, 


THE  DOWNFALL  53 

directed  his  artillery  to  play  upon  the  struggling  mass.  There 
was  Jena,  where  .so  many  of  Prussia's  bravest  found  a  grave  ;  * 
at  first  the  red  flames  of  musketry  flashing  through  the  Octo- 
ber mists,  and  Ney's  impatience,  near  spoiling  all  until  Auger- 
eau  comes  wheeling  into  line  and  saves  him  ;  the  fierce 
charge  that  tore  the  enemy's  center  in  twain,  and  finally 
panic,  the  headlong  rout  of  their  boasted  cavalry,  whom  our 
hussars  mow  down  like  ripened  grain,  strewing  the  romantic 
glen  with  a  harvest  of  men  and  horses-.  And  Eylau,  cruel 
Eylau,  bloodiest  battle  of  them  all,  where  the  maimed  corpses 
cumbered  the  earth  in  piles  ;  Eylau,  whose  new-fallen  snow  / 
was  stained  with  blood,  the  burial-place  of  heroes  ;  Eytau,  in 
whose  name  reverberates  still  the  thunder  of  the  charge  of 
Murat's  eighty  squadrons,  piercing  the  Russian  lines  in  every 
direction,  heaping  the  ground  so  thick  with  dead  that  Napoleon 
himself  could  not  refrain  from  tears.  Then  Friedland,  the 
trap  into  which  the  Russians  again  allowed  themselves  to  bev 
decoyed  like  a  flock  of  brainless  sparrows,  the  masterpiece  of 
the  Emperor's  consummate  strategy  ;  our  left  held  back  as  in  a 
leash,  motionless,  without  a  sign  of  life,  while  Ney  was  carrying 
the  city,  street  by  street,  and  destroying  the  bridges,  then  the 
left  hurled  like  a  thunderbolt  on  the  enemy's  right,  driving  it 
into  the  river  and  annihilating  it  in  that  cul-de-sac;  the  slaughter 
so  great  that  at  ten  o'clock  at  night  the  bloody  work  was  not 
completed,  most  wonderful  of  all  the  successes  of  the  great 
imperial  epic.  And  Wagram,  where  it  was  the  aim  of  the  , 
Austrians  to  cut  us  off  from  the  Danube  ;  they  keep  strength- 
ening their  left  in  order  to  overwhelm  Massena,  who  is 
wounded  and  issues  his  orders  from  an  open  carriage,  and 
Napoleon,  like  a  malicious  Titan,  lets  them  go  on  unchecked  ; 
then  all  at  once  a  hundred  guns  vomit  their  terrible  fire  upon 
their  weakened  center,  driving  it  backward  more  than  a  league, 
and  their  left,  terror-stricken  to  find  itself  unsupported,  gives 
way  before  the  again  victorious  Massena,  sweeping  away 
before  it  the  remainder  of  the  army,  as  when  a  broken  dike 
lets  loose  its  torrents  upon  the  fields.  And  finally  the 
Moskowa,  where  the  bright  sun  of  Austerlitz  shone  for  the  N 
last  time  ;  where  the  contending  hosts  were  mingled  in  con- 
fused  melee  amid  deeds  of  the  most  desperate  daring  :  mame- 
lons  carried  under  an  unceasing  fire  of  musketry,  redoubts 
stormed  with  the  naked  steel,  every  inch  of  ground  fought  over 
again  and  again  ;"such  determined  resistance  on  the  part  of  the 
Russian  Guards  that  our  final  victory  was  only  assured  by 


54  THE  DOWNFALL 

Murat's  mad  charges,  the  concentrated  fire  of  our  three  hun- 
dred pieces  of  artillery,  and  the  valor  of  Ney,  who  was  the 
hero  of  that  most  obstinate  of  conflicts.  And  be  the  battle 
what  it  might,  ever  our  flags  floated  proudly  on  the  evening- 
air,  and  as  the  bivouac  fires  were  lighted  on  the  conquered 
field  out  rang  the  old  battle-cry:  Vive  Napotton  !  France, 
carrying  her  invincible  Eagles  from  end  to  end  of  Europe, 
seemed  everywhere  at  home,  having  but  to  raise  her  finger  to 
make  her  will  respected  by  the  nations,  mistress  of  a  world 
that  in  vain  conspired  to  crush  her  and  upon  which  she  set 
her  foot. 

Maurice  was  contentedly  finishing  his  cutlet,  cheered  not  so 
much  by  the  wine  that  sparkled  in  his  glass  as  by  the  glorious 
memories  that  were  teeming  in  his  brain,  when  his  glance 
encountered  two  ragged,  dust-stained  soldiers,  less  like  soldiers 
than  weary  tramps  just  off  the  road  ;  they  were  asking  the 
attendant  for  information  as  to  the  position  of  the  regiments 
that  were  encamped  along  the  canal.  He  hailed  them. 

"  Hallo  there,  comrades,  this  way  !  You  are  yth  corps  men, 
aren't  you  ?  " 

"Right  you  are,  sir  ;  ist  division — at  least  I  am,  more  by 
token  that  I  was  at  Froeschwiller,  where  it  was  warm  enough, 
I  can  tell  you.  The  comrade,  here,  belongs  in  the  ist  corps  ; 
he  was  at  Wissembourg,  another  beastly  hole." 

They  told  their  story,  how  they  had  been  swept  away  in  the 
general  panic,  had  crawled  into  a  ditch  half-dead  with  fatigue 
and  hunger,  each  of  them  slightly  wounded,  and  since  then 
had  been  dragging  themselves  along  in  the  rear  of  the  army, 
compelled  to  lie  over  in  towns  when  the  fever-fits  came  on, 
until  at  last  they  had  reached  the  camp  and  were  on  the  look- 
jut  to  find  their  regiments. 

Maurice,  who  had  a  piece  of  Gruyere  before  him,  noticed 
the  hungry  eyes  fixed  on  his  plate. 

"  Hi  there,  mademoiselle  !  bring  some  more  cheese,  will 
you — and  bread  and  wine.  You  will  join  me,  won't  you, 
comrades  ?  It  is  my  treat.  Here's  to  your  good  health  !  " 

They  drew  their  chairs  up  to  the  table,  only  too  delighted 
with  the  invitation.  Their  entertainer  watched  them  as  they 
attacked  the  food,  and  a  thrill  of  pity  ran  through  him  as  he 
beheld  their  sorry  plight,  dirty,  ragged,  arms  gone,  their  sole 
attire  a  pair  of  red  trousers  and  the  capote,  kept  in  place  by 
bits  of  twine  and  so  patched  and  pieced  with  shreds  of  vari- 
colored cloth  that  one  would  have  taken  them  for  men  who 


THE  DOWNFALL  55 

had  been  looting  some  battle-field  and  were  wearing  the  spoil 
they  had  gathered  there. 

"  Ah  !  f outre,  yes  ! "  continued  the  taller  of  the  two  as  he 
plied  his  jaws,  "  it  was  no  laughing  matter  there  !  You 
ought  to  have  seen  it, — tell  him  how  it  was,  Coutard." 

And  the  little  man  told  his  story  with  many  gestures,  describ- 
ing figures  on  the  air  with  his  bread. 

"  I  was  washing  my  shirt,  you  see,  while  the  rest  of  them 
were  making  soup.  Just  try  and  picture  to  yourself  a  misera- 
ble hole,  a  regular  trap,  all  surrounded  by  dense  woods  that 
gave  those  Prussian  pigs  a  chance  to  crawl  up  to  us  before  we 
ever  suspected  they  were  there.  So,  then,  about  seven  o'clock 
the  shells  begin  to  come  tumbling  about  our  ears.  Norn  de 
Dieu  !  but  it  was  lively  work  !  we  jumped  for  our  shooting- 
irons,  and  up  to  eleven  o'clock  it  looked  as  if  we  were  going  to 
polish  'em  off  in  fine  style.  But  you  must  know  that  there  were 
only  five  thousand  of  us,  and  the  beggars  kept  coming,  coming 
as  if  there  was  no  end  to  them.  I  was  posted  on  a  little  hill, 
behind  a  bush,  and  I  could  see  them  debouching  in  front,  to 
right,  to  left,  like  rows  of  black  ants  swarming  from  their  hill, 
and  when  you  thought  there  were  none  left  there  were  always 
plenty  more.  There's  no  use  mincing  matters,  we  all  thought 
that  our  leaders  must  be  first-class  nincompoops  to  thrust  us 
into  such  a  hornet's  nest,  with  no  support  at  hand,  and  leave 
us  to  be  crushed  there  without  coming  to  our  assistance. 
And  then  our  General,  Douay,*  poor  devil  !  neither  a  fool  nor 
a  coward,  that  man, — a  bullet  comes  along  and  lays  him  on 
his  back.  That  ended  it  ;  no  one  left  to  command  us !  No 
matter,  though,  we  kept  on  fighting  all  the  same  ;  but  they 
were  too  many  for  us,  we  had  to  fall  back  at  last.  We  held 
the  railway  station  for  a  long  time,  and  then  we  fought  behind 
a  wall,  and  the  uproar  was  enough  to  wake  the  dead.  And 
then,  when  the  city  was  taken,  I  don't  exactly  remember  how 
it  came  about,  but  we  were  upon  a  mountain,  the  Geissberg, 
I  think  they  call  it,  and  there  we  intrenched  ourselves  in  a 
sort  of  castle,  and  how  we  did  give  it  to  the  pigs  !  they  jumped 
about  the  rocks  like  kids,  and  it  was  fun  to  pick  'em  off  and 
see  'em  tumble  on  their  nose.  But  what  would  you  have  ? 
they  kept  coming,  coming,  all  the  time,  ten  men  to  our  one, 
and  all  the  artillery  they  could  wish  for.  Courage  is  a  very 
good  thing  in  its  place,  but  sometimes  it  gets  a  man  into  diffi- 

*  This  was  Abel  Douay— not  to  be  confounded  with  his  brother,  Felix, 
who  commanded  the  7th  corps. — TR. 


56  THE  DOWNFALL 

culties,  and  so,  at  last,  when  it  got  too  hot  to  stand  it  any 
longer,  we  cut  and  run.  But  regarded  as  nincompoops,  our 
officers  were  a  decided  success  ;  don't  you  think  so,  Picot  ?  " 

There  was  a  brief  interval  of  silence.  Picot  tossed  off  a 
glass  of  the  white  wine  and  wiped  his  mouth  with  the  back  of 
his  hand. 

u  Of  course,"  said  he.  "  It  was  just  the  same  at  Froesch  wilier ; 
the  general  who  would  give  battle  under  such  circumstances 
V  is  a  fit  subject  for  a  lunatic  asylum.  That's  what  my  captain 
said,  and  he's  a  little  man  who  knows  what  he  is  talking  about. 
The  truth  of  the  ^matter  is  that  no  one  knew  anything  ;  we 
were  only  forty  thousand  strong,  and  we  were  surprised  by  a 
whole  army  of  those  pigs.  And  no  one  was  expecting  to  fight 
that  day  ;  battle  was  joined  by  degrees,  one  portion  after 
another  of  our  troops  became  engaged,  against  the  wishes  of 
our  commanders,  as  it  seems.  Of  course,  I  didn't  see  the 
whole  of  the  affair,  but  what  I  do  know  is  that  the  dance  lasted 
by  fits  and  starts  all  day  long  ;  a  body  would  think  it  was 
ended  ;  not  a  bit  of  it  !  away  would  go  the  music  more  furi- 
ously than  ever.  The  commencement  was  at  Woerth,  a  pretty 
little  village  with  a  funny  clock-tower  that  looks  like  a  big 
stove,  owing  to  the  earthenware  tiles  they  have  stuck  all  over 
it.  I'll  be  hanged  if  I  know  why  we  let  go  our  hold  of  it  that 
morning,  for  we  broke  all  our  teeth  and  nails  trying  to  get  it 
back  again  in  the  afternoon,  without  succeeding.  Oh,  my 
children,  if  I  were  to  tell  you  of  the  slaughter  there,  the 
throats  that  were  cut  and  the  brains  knocked  out,  you  would 
refuse  to  believe  me  !  The  next  place  where  we  had  trouble 
was  around  a  village  with  the  jaw-breaking  name  of  Elsass- 
h'ausen.  We  got  a  peppering  from  a  lot  of  guns  that  banged 
away  at  us  at  their  ease  from  the  top  of  a  blasted  hill  that  we 
had  also  abandoned  that  morning,  why,  no  one  has  ever  been 
able  to  tell.  And  there  it  was  that  with  these  very  eyes  of 
mine  I  saw  the  famous  charge  of  the  cuirassiers.  Ah,  how 
gallantly  they  rode  to  their  death,  poor  fellows  !  A  shame  it 
was,  I  say,  to  let  men  and  horses  charge  over  ground  like  that, 
covered  with  brush  and  furze,  cut  up  by  ditches.  And  on  top 
of  it  all,  nom  de  Dieu !  what  good  could  they  accomplish? 
But  it  was  very  chic  all  the  same  ;  it  was  a  beautiful  sight  to 
see.  The  next  thing  for  us  to  do,  shouldn't  you  suppose  so  ? 
was  to  go  and  sit  down  somewhere  and  try  to  get  our  wind 
again.  They  had  set  fire  to  the  village  and  it  was  burning 
like  tinder,  and  the  whole  gang  of  Bavarian,  Wurtemburgian 


THE  DOWNFALL  57 

and  Prussian  pigs,  more  than  a  hundred  and  twenty  thousand 
of  them  there  were,  as  we  found  out  afterward,  had  got  around 
into  our  rear  and  on  our  flanks.  But  there  was  to  be  no  rest 
for  us  then,  for  just  at  that  time  the  riddles  began  to  play 
again  a  livelier  tune  than  ever  around  Froeschwiller.  For 
there's  no  use  talking,  fellows,  MacMahon  may  be  a  blockhead 
but  he  is  a  brave  man  ;  you  ought  to  have  seen  him  on  his  big 
horse,  with  the  shells  bursting  all  about  him  !  The  best  thing 
to  do  would  have  been  to  give  leg-bail  at  the  beginning,  for  it 
is  no  disgrace  to  a  general  to  refuse  to  fight  an  army  of  supe- 
rior numbers,  but  he,  once  we  had  gone  in,  was  bound  to  see 
the  thing  through  to  the  end.  And  see  it  through  he  did  ! 
why,  I  tell  yon  that  the  men  down  in  Froeschwiller  were  no 
longer  human  beings ;  they  were  ravening  wolves  devouring 
one  another.  For  near  two  hours  the  gutters  ran  red  with 
blood.  All  the  same,  however,  we  had  to  knuckle  under  in 
the  end.  And  to  think  that  after  it  was  all  over  they  should 
come  and  tell  us  that  we  had  whipped  the  Bavarians  over  on 
our  left !  By  the  piper  that  played  before  Moses,  if  we  had 
only  had  a  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  men,  if  we  had  had 
guns,  and  leaders  with  a  little  pluck  ! " 

Loud  and  angry  were  the  denunciations  of  Coutard  and 
Picot  in  their  ragged,  dusty  uniforms  as  they  cut  themselves 
huge  slices  of  bread  and  bolted  bits  of  cheese,  evoking  their 
bitter  memories  there  in  the  shade  of  the  pretty  trellis,  where 
the  sun  played  hide  and  seek  among  the  purple  and  gold  of 
the  clusters  of  ripening  grapes.  They  had  come  now  to  the 
horrible  flight  that  succeeded  the  defeat  ;  the  broken,  demor- 
alized, famishing  regiments  flying  through  the  fields,  the  high- 
roads blocked  with  men,  horses,  wagons,  guns,  in  inextricable 
confusion  ;  all  the  wreck  and  ruin  of  a  beaten  army  that  pressed 
on,  on,  on,  with  the  chill  breath  of  panic  on  their  backs.  As 
they  had  not  had  wit  enough  to  fall  back  while  there  was  time 
and  take  post  among  the  passes  of  the  Vosges,  where  ten  thou- 
sand men  would  have  sufficed  to  hold  in  check  a  hundred  thou- 
sand, they  should  at  least  have  blown  up  the  bridges  and  de- 
stroyed the  tunnels  ;  but  the  generals  had  lost  their  heads,  and 
both  sides  were  so  dazed,  each  was  so  ignorant  of  the  other's 
movements,  that  for  a  time  each  of  them  was  feeling  to  ascer- 
tain the  position  of  its  opponent,  MacMahon  hurrying  off 
toward  Luneville^ while  the  Crown  Prince  of  Prussia  was 
looking  for  him  in  the  direction  of  the  Vosges.  On  the  yth 
the  remnant  of  the  ist  corps  passed  through  gaverne,  like  a 


58  THE  DOWNFALL 

swollen  stream  that  carries  away  upon  its  muddy  bosom  all 
with  which  it  comes  in  contact.  On  the  8th,  at  Sarrebourg, 
the  5th  corps  came  tumbling  in  upon  the  ist,  like  one  mad 
mountain  torrent  pouring  its  waters  into  another.  The  5th 
was  also  flying,  defeated  without  having  fought  a  battle, 
sweeping  away  with  it  its  commander,  poor  General  de  Failly, 
almost  crazy  with  the  thought  that  to  his  inactivity  was  im- 
puted the  responsibility  of  the  defeat,  when  the  fault  all  rested 
in  the  Marshal's  having  failed  to  send  him  orders.  The  mad 
flight  continued  on  the  pth  and  loth,  a  stampede  in  which  no 
one  turned  to  look  behind  him.  On  the  nth,  in  order  to  turn 
Nancy,  which  a  mistaken  rumor  had  reported  to  be  occupied 
by  the  enemy,  they  made  their  way  in  a  pouring  rainstorm  to 
Bayon  ;  the  i2th  they  camped  at  Haroue,  the  i3th  at  Vicherey, 
and  on  the  i4th  were  at  Neufchateau,  where  at  last  they 
struck  the  railroad,  and  for  three  days  the  work  went 
on  of  loading  the  weary  men  into  the  cars  that  were  to  take 
them  to  Chalons.  Twenty-four  hours  after  the  last  train 
rolled  out  of  the  station  the  Prussians  entered  the  town.  "Ah, 
the  cursed  luck  !  "  said  Picot  in  conclusion  ;  "  how  we  bad  to 
ply  our  legs !  And  we  who  should  by  rights  have  been  in 
hospital !  " 

Coutard  emptied  what  was  left  in  the  bottle  into  his  own 
and  his  comrade's  glass.  "  Yes,  we  got  on  our  pins,  somehow, 
and  are  running  yet.  Bah  !  it  is  the  best  thing  for  us,  after 
all,  since  it  gives  us  a  chance  to  drink  the  health  of  those  who 
were  not  knocked  over." 

Maurice  saw  through  it  all.  The  sledge  hammer  blow  of 
Froeschwiller,  following  so  close  on  the  heels  of  the  idiotic 
surprise  at  Wissembourg,  was  the  lightning  flash  whose  bale- 
ful light  disclosed  to  him  the  entire  naked,  terrible  truth.  We 
were  taken  unprepared  ;  we  had  neither  guns,  nor  men,  nor 
generals,  while  our  despised  foe  was  an  innumerable  host, 
provided  with  all  modern  appliances  and  faultless  in  discipline 
and  leadership.  The  three  German  armies  had  burst  apart 
the  weak  line  of  our  seven  corps,  scattered  between  Metz  and 
Strasbourg,  like  three  powerful  wedges.  We  were  doomed  to 
fight  our  battle  out  unaided  ;  nothing  could  be  hoped  for  now 
from  Austria  and  Italy,  for  all  the  Emperor's  plans  were  dis- 
concerted by  the  tardiness  of  our  operations  and  the  incapacity 
of  the  commanders.  Fate,  even,  seemed  to  be  working  against 
us,  heaping  all  sorts  of  obstacles  and  ill-timed  accidents  in  our 
path  and  favoring  the  secret  plan  of  the  Prussians,  which  was 


THE   DOWNFALL  S9 

to  divide  our  armies,  throwing  cn^e  portion  back  on  Metz, 
where  it  would  be  cut  off  from  France,  while  they,  having  first 
destroyed  the  other  fragment,  should  be  marching  on  Paris. 
It  was  as  plain  now  as  a  problem  in  mathematics  that  our 
defeat  would  be  owing  to  causes  that  were  patent  to  everyone  ; 
it  was  bravery  without  intelligent  guidance  pitted  against 
numbers  and  cold  science.  Men  might  discuss  the  question 
as  they  would  in  after  days  ;  happen  what  might,  defeat  was 
certain  in  spite  of  everything,  as  certain  and  inexorable  as  the 
laws  of  nature  that  rule  our  planet. 

In  the  midst  of  his  uncheerful  revery,  Maurice's  eyes  sud- 
denly lighted  on  the  legend  scrawled  on  the  wall  before  him — 
Vive  Napoleon!  and  a  sensation  of  intolerable  distress  seemed 
to  pierce  his  heart  like  a  red  hot  iron.  Could  it  be  true,  then, 
that  France,  whose  victories  were  the  theme  of  song  and  story 
everywhere,  the  great  nation  whose  drums  had  sounded 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  Europe,  had  been 
thrown  in  the  dust  at  the  first  onset  by  an  insignificant  race,,? 
despised  of  everyone  ?  Fifty  years  had  sufficed  to  compass 
it ;  the  world  had  changed,  and  defeat  most  fearful  had  over- 
taken those  who  had  been  deemed  invincible.  He  remembered 
the  words  that  had  been  uttered  by  Weiss,  his  brother-in-law, 
during  that  evening  of  anxiety  when  they  were  at  Mulhausen. 
Yes,  he  alone  of  them  had  been  clear  of  vision,  had  penetrated 
the  hidden  causes  that  had  long  been  slowly  sapping  our 
strength,  had  felt  the  freshening  gale  of  youth  and  progress 
under  the  impulse  of  which  Germany  was  being  wafted  on- 
ward to  prosperity  and  power.  Was  not  the  old  warlike  age 
dying  and  a  new  one  coming  to  the  front  ?  Woe  to  that  one 
among  the  nations  which  halted  in  its  onward  march  !  the 
victory  is  to  those  who  are  with  the  advance-guard,  to  those 
who  are  clear  of  head  and  strong  of  body,  to  the  most  power- 
ful. 

But  just  then  there  came  from  the  smoke-blackened 
kitchen,  where  the  walls  were  bright  with  the  colored  prints 
of  Epinal,  a  sound  of  voices  and  the  squalling  of  a  girl  who 
submits,  not  unwillingly,  to  be  tousled.  It  was  Lieutenant 
Rochas,  availing  himself  of  his  privilege  as  a  conquering  hero, 
to  catch  and  kiss  the  pretty  waitress.  He  came  out  into  the 
arbor,  where  he  ordered  a  cup  of  coffee  to  be  served  him,  and 
as  he  had  heard  the  concluding  words  of  Picot's  narrative, 
proceeded  to  take  a  hand  in  the  conversation  : 

"Bah!  my  children,  those  things  that  you  are  speaking  of 


60  THE  DOWNFALL 

don't  amount  to  anything.  It  is  only  the  beginning  of  the 
dance  ;  you  will  see  the  fun  commence  in  earnest  presently. 
Pardi './  up  to  the  present  time  they  have  been  five  to  our  one, 
but  things  are  going  to  take  a  change  now  ;  just  put  that  in 
your  pipe  and  smoke  it.  We  are  three  hundred  thousand  strong 
here,  and  every  move  we  make,  which  nobody  can  see  through, 
is  made  with  the  intention  of  bringing  the  Prussians  down  on 
us,  while  Bazaine,  who  has  got  his  eye  on  them,  will  take 
them  in  their  rear.  And  then  we'll  smash  'em,  crac !  just  as  I 
smash  this  fly  !  " 

Bringing  his  hands  together  with  a  sounding  clap  he  caught 
and  crushed  a  fly  on  the  wing,  and  he  laughed  loud  and 
cheerily,  believing  with  all  his  simple  soul  in  the  feasibility  of 
a  plan  that  seemed  so  simple,  steadfast  in  his  faith  in  the  in- 
vincibility of  French  courage.  He  good-naturedly  informed 
the  two  soldiers  of  the  exact  position  of  their  regiments,  then 
lit  a  cigar  and  seated  himself  contentedly  before  his  demi 
tasse. 

"  The  pleasure  was  all  mine,  comrades !  "  Maurice  re- 
plied to  Coutard  and  Picot,  who,  as  they  were  leaving,  thanked 
him  for  the  cheese  and  wine. 

He  ha4  also  called  for  a  cup  of  coffee  and  sat  watching  the 
Lieutenant,  whose  hopefulness  had  communicated  itself  to 
him,  a  little  surprised,  however,  to  hear  him  enumerate  their 
strength  at  three  hundred  thousand  men,  when  it  was  not 
more  than  a  hundred  thousand,  and  at  his  happy-go-lucky 
way  of  crushing  the  Prussians  between  the  two  armies  of 
Chalons  and  Metz.  But  then  he,  too,  felt  such  need  of  some 
comforting  illusion  !  Why  should  he  not  continue  to  hope 
when  all  those  glorious  memories  of  the  past  that  he  had 
evoked  were  still  ringing  in  his  ears  ?  The  old  inn  was  so 
bright  and  cheerful,  with  its  trellis  hung  with  the  purple  grapes 
of  France,  ripening  in  the  golden  sunlight !  And  again  his  confi- 
dence gained  a  momentary  ascendancy  over  the  gloomy  despair 
that  the  late  events  had  engendered  in  him. 

Maurice's  eyes  had  rested  for  a  moment  on  an  officer  of 
chasseurs  d'Afrique  who,  with  his  orderly,  had  disappeared  at 
a  sharp  trot  around  the  corner  of  the  silent  house  where  the 
Emperor  was  quartered,  and  when  the  orderly  came  back 
alone  and  stopped  with  his  two  horses  before  the  inn  door  he 
gave  utterance  to  an  exclamation  of  surprise  : 

"  Prosper  !     Why,  I  supposed  you  were  at  Metz  !  " 

It   was  a  young   man   of   Remilly,  a  simple   farm-laborer, 


THE  DOWNFALL  6 1 

whom  he  had  known  as  a  boy  in  the  days  when  he  used  to  go 
and  spend  his  vacations  with  his  uncle  Fouchard.  He  had 
been  drawn,  and  when  the  war  broke  out  had  been  three 
years  in  Africa  ;  he  cut  quite  a  dashing  figure  in  his  sky-blue 
jacket,  his  wide  red  trousers  with  blue  stripes  and  red  woolen 
belt,  with  his  sun-dried  face  and  strong,  sinewy  limbs  that  in- 
dicated great  strength  and  activity. 

"  Hallo  !  it's  Monsieur  Maurice  !     I'm  glad  to  see  you  !" 

He  took  things  very  easily,  however,  conducting  the  steam- 
ing horses  to  the  stable,  and  to  his  own,  more  particularly, 
giving  a  paternal  attention.  It  was  no  doubt  his  affection  for 
the  noble  animal,  contracted  when  he  was  a  boy  and  rode  him 
to  the  plow,  that  had  made  him  select  the  cavalry  arm  of 
the  service. 

"  We've  just  come  in  from  Monthois,  more  than  ten  leagues 
at  a  stretch,"  he  said  when  he  came  back,  "  and  Poulet  will 
be  wanting  his  breakfast." 

Poulet  was  the  horse.  He  declined  to  eat  anything  himself  ; 
would  only  accept  a  cup  of  coffee.  He  had  to  wait  for  his 
officer,  who  had  to  wait  for  the  Emperor  ;  he  might  be  five 
minutes,  and  then  again  he  might  be  two  hours,  so  his  offi- 
cer had  told  him  to  put  the  horses  in  the  stable.  And  as 
Maurice,  whose  curiosity  was  aroused,  showed  some  disposi- 
tion to  pump  him,  his  face  became  as  vacant  as  a  blank  page. 

"Can't  say.  An  errand  of  some  sort — papers  to  be  de- 
livered." 

But  Rochas  looked  at  the  chasseur  with  an  eye  of  tender- 
ness, for  the  uniform  awakened  old  memories  of  Africa. 

"  Eh  !  my  lad,  where  were  you  stationed  out  there  ?  " 

"  At  Medeah,  Lieutenant."  ' 

Ah,  Medeah  !  And  drawing  their  chairs  closer  together 
they  started  a  conversation,  regardless  of  difference  in  rank. 
The  life  of  the  desert  had  become  a  second  nature  for  Pros- 
per, where  the  trumpet  was  continually  calling  them  to  arms, 
where  a  large  portion  of  their  time  was  spent  on  horseback, 
riding  out  to  battle  as  they  would  to  the  chase,  to  some  grand 
battue  of  Arabs.  There  was  just  one  soup-basin  for  every  six 
men,  or  tribe,  as  it  was  called,  and  each  tribe  was  a  family  by 
itself,  one  of  its  members  attending  to  the  cooking,  another 
washing  their  linen,  the  others  pitching  the  tent,  caring  for 
the  horses,  and  cleaning  the  arms.  By  day  they  scoured  the 
country  beneath  a  sun  like  a  ball  of  blazing  copper,  loaded 
down  with  the  burden  of  their  arms  and  utensils  ;  at  night 


62  THE  DOWNFALL 

they  built  great  fires  to  drive  away  the  mosquitoes  and  sat 
around  them,  singing  the  songs  of  France.  Often  it  hap- 
pened that  in  the  luminous  darkness  of  the  night,  thick  set 
with  stars,  they  had  to  rise  and  restore  peace  among  their 
four-footed  friends,  who,  in  the  balmy  softness  of  the  air,  had 
set  to  biting  and  kicking  one  another,  uprooting  their  pickets 
and  neighing  and  snorting  furiously.  Then  there  was  the 
delicious  coffee,  their  greatest,  indeed  their  only,  luxury,  which 
they  ground  by  the  primitive  appliances  of  a  carbine-butt  and 
a  porringer,  and  afterward  strained  through  a  red  woolen 
sash.  But  their  life  was  not  one  of  unalloyed  enjoyment  ; 
there  were  dark  days,  also,  when  they  were  far  from  the 
abodes  of  civilized  man  with  the  enemy  before  them.  No 
more  fires,  then  ;  no  singing,  no  good  times.  There  were 
times  when  hunger,  thirst  and  want  of  sleep  caused  them 
horrible  suffering,  but  no  matter  ;  they  loved  that  daring, 
adventurous  life,  that  war  of  skirmishes,  so  propitious  for  the 
display  of  personal  bravery  and  as  interesting  as  a  fairy  tale, 
enlivened  by  the  razzias,  which  were  only  public  plundering 
on  a  larger  scale,  and  by  marauding,  or  the  private  pecula- 
tions of  the  chicken-thieves,  which  afforded  many  an  amusing 
story  that  made  even  the  generals  laugh. 

"  Ah  !  "  said  Prosper,  with  a  more  serious  face,  "  it's  dif- 
ferent here ;  the  fighting  is  done  in  quite  another  way." 

And  in  reply  to  a  question  asked  by  Maurice,  he  told  the 
story  of  their  landing  at  Toulon  and  the  long  and  wearisome 
march  to  Luneville.  It  was  there  that  they  first  received  news 
of  Wissembourg  and  Froeschwiller.  After  that  his  account 
was  less  clear,  for  he  got  the  names  of  towns  mixed,  Nancy 
and  Saint-Mihiel,  Saint-Mihiel  and  Metz.  There  must  have 
been  heavy  fighting  on  the  i4th,  for  the  sky  was  all  on  fire, 
but  all  he  saw  of  it  was  four  uhlans  behind  a  hedge.  On  the 
i6th  there  was  another  engagement  ;  they  could  hear  the 
artillery  going  as  early  as  six  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  he 
had  been  told  that  on  the  i8th  they  started  the  dance  again, 
more  lively  than  ever.  But  the  chasseurs  were  not  in  it  that 
time,  for  at  Gravelotte  on  the  i6th,  as  they  were  standing 
drawn  up  along  a  road  waiting  to  wheel  into  column,  the 
Emperor,  who  passed  that  way  in  a  victoria,  took  them  to  act 
as  his  escort  to  Verdun.  And  a  pretty  little  jaunt  it  was, 
twenty-six  miles  at  a  hard  gallop,  with  the  fear  of  being  cut 
off  by  the  Prussians  at  any  moment  ! 

"  And  what  of  Bazaine  ?  "  asked  Rochas. 


THE  DOWNFALL  63 

"  Bazaine  ?  they  say  that  he  is  mightily  well  pleased  that  the 
Emperor  lets  him  alone." 

But  the  Lieutenant  wanted  to  know  if  Bazaine  was  coming 
to  join  them,  whereon  Prosper  made  a  gesture  expressive  of 
uncertainty  ;  what  did  any  one  know  ?  Ever  since  the  i6th 
their  time  had  been  spent  in  marching  and  countermarching  in 
the  rain,  out  on  reconnoissance  and  grand-guard  duty,  and 
they  had  not  seen  a  sign  of  an  enemy.  Now  they  were  part  of 
the  army  of  Chalons.  His  regiment,  together  with  two  regi- 
ments of  chasseurs  de  France  and  one  of  hussars,  formed  one 
of  the  divisions  of  the  cavalry  of  reserve,  the  first  division, 
commanded  by  General  Margueritte,  of  whom  he  spoke  with 
most  enthusiastic  warmth. 

"  Ah,  the  bougre !  the  enemy  will  catch  a  Tartar  in  him! 
But  what's  the  good  talking  ?  the  only  use  they  can  find  for  us 
is  to  send  us  pottering  about  in  the  mud." 

There  was  silence  for  a  moment,  then  Maurice  gave  some 
brief  news  of  Remilly  and  uncle  Fouchard,  and  Prosper  ex- 
pressed his  regret  that  he  could  not  go  and  shake  hands  with 
Honore,  the  quartermaster-sergeant,  whose  battery  was  sta- 
tioned more  than  a  league  away,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Laon 
road.  But  the  chasseur  pricked  up  his  ears  at  hearing  the 
whinnying  of  a  horse  and  rose  and  went  out  to  make  sure  that 
Poulet  was  not  in  want  of  anything.  It  was  the  hour  sacred 
to  coffee  and  pousse-caf e,  and  it  was  not  long  before  the  little 
hostelry  was  full  to  overflowing  with  officers  and  men  of  every 
arm  of  the  service.  There  was  not  a  vacant  table,  and  the 
bright  uniforms  shone  resplendent  against  the  green  back- 
ground of  leaves  checkered  with  spots  of  sunshine.  Major 
Bouroche  had  just  come  in  and  taken  a  seat  beside  Rochas, 
when  Jean  presented  himself  with  an  order. 

"  Lieutenant,  the  captain  desires  me  to  say  that  he  wishes  to 
see  you  at  three  o'clock  on  company  business." 

Rochas  signified  by  a  nod  of  the  head  that  he  had  heard, 
and  Jean  did  not  go  away  at  once,  but  stood  smiling  at 
Maurice,  who  was  lighting  a  cigarette.  Ever  since  the  occur- 
rence in  the  railway  car  there  had  been  a  sort  of  tacit  truce 
between  the  two  men  ;  they  seemed  to  be  reciprocally  study- 
ing each  other,  with  an  increasing  interest  and  attraction. 
But  just  then  Prosper  came  back,  a  little  out  of  temper. 

"  1  mean  to  have  something  to  eat  unless  my  officer  comes 
out  of  that  shanty  pretty  quick.  The  Emperor  is  just  as  likely 
as  not  to  stay  away  until  dark,  confound  it  all." 


64  THE  DOWNFALL 

"  Tell  me,"  said  Maurice,  his  curiosity  again  getting  the 
better  of  him,  "isn't  it  possible  that  the  news  you  are  bringing 
may  be  from  Bazaine  ? " 

"  Perhaps  so.  There  was  a  good  deal  of  talk  about  him 
down  there  at  Monthois." 

At  that  moment  there  was  a  stir  outside  in  the  street,  and 
Jean,  who  was  standing  by  one  of  the  doors  of  the  arbor, 
turned  and  said  : 

"The  Emperor!" 

Immediately  everyone  was  on  his  feet.  Along  the  broad, 
white  road,  with  its  rows  of  poplars  on  either  side,  came  a 
troop  of  cent-gardes,  spick  and  span  in  their  brillant  uniforms, 
their  cuirasses  blazing  in  the  sunlight,  and  immediately  behind 
them  rode  the  Emperor,  accompanied  by  his  staff,  in  a  wide 
open  space,  followed  by  a  second  troop  of  cent-gardes. 

There  was  a  general  uncovering  of  heads,  and  here  and 
there  a  hurrah  was  heard  ;  and  the  Emperor  raised  his  head  as 
he  passed ;  his  face  looked  drawn,  the  eyes  were  dim  and 
watery.  He  had  the  dazed  appearance  of  one  suddenly 
aroused  from  slumber,  smiled  faintly  at  sight  of  the  cheerful 
inn,  and  saluted.  From  behind  them  Maurice  and  Jean  dis- 
tinctly heard  old  Bouroche  growl,  having  first  surveyed  the 
sovereign  with  his  practiced  eye  : 

"  There's  no  mistake  about  it,  that  man  is  in  a  bad  way." 
Then  he  succinctly  completed  his  diagnosis  :  "  His  jig  is  up  !  " 

Jean  shook  his  head  and  thought  in  his  limited,  common 
sense  way  :  "  It  is  a  confounded  shame  to  let  a  man  like  that 
have  command  of  the  army  !  "  And  ten  minutes  later, 
when  Maurice,  comforted  by  his  good  breakfast,  shook  hands 
with  Prosper  and  strolled  away  to  smoke  more  cigarettes,  he 
carried  with  him  the  picture  of  the  Emperor,  seated  on  his 
easy-gaited  horse,  so  pale,  so  gentle,  the  man  of  thought,  the 
dreamer,  wanting  in  energy  when  the  moment  for  action  came. 
He  was  reputed  to  be  good-hearted,  capable,  swayed  by  gen- 
erous and  noble  thoughts,  a  silent  man  of  strong  and  tenacious 
will ;  he  was  very  brave,  too,  scorning  danger  with  the  scorn 
of  the  fatalist  for  whom  destiny  has  no  fears ;  but  in  critical 
moments  a  fatal  lethargy  seemed  to  overcome  him  ;  he  ap- 
peared to  become  paralyzed  in  presence  of  results,  and  power- 
less thereafter  to  struggle  against  Fortune  should  she  prove 
adverse.  And  Maurice  asked  himself  if  his  were  not  a  special 
physiological  condition,  aggravated  by  suffering  ;  if  the  indeci- 
sion and  increasing  incapacity  that  the  Emperor  had  displayed 


THE  DOWNFALL  65 

ever  since  the  opening  of  the  campaign  were  not  to  be  attrib- 
uted to  his  manifest  illness.  That  would  explain  everything : 
a  minute  bit  of  foreign  substance  in  a  man's  system,  and  em- 
pires totter. 

The  camp  that  evening  was  all  astir  with  activity ;  officers 
were  bustling  about  with  orders  and  arranging  for  the  start 
the  following  morning  at  five  o'clock.  Maurice  experienced  a 
shock  of  surprise  and  alarm  to  learn  that  once  again  all  their 
plans  were  changed,  that  they  were  not  to  fall  back  on  Paris, 
but  proceed  to  Verdun  and  effect  a  junction  with  Bazaine. 
There  was  a  report  that  dispatches  had  come  in  during  the 
day  from  the  marshal  announcing  that  he  was  retreating,  and 
the  young  man's  thoughts  reverted  to  the  officer  of  chasseurs 
and  his  rapid  ride  from  Monthois ;  perhaps  he  had  been  the 
bearer  of  a  copy  of  the  dispatch.  So,  then,  the  opinions  of 
the  Empress-regent  and  the  Council  of  Ministers  had  prevailed 
with  the  vacillating  MacMahon,  in  their  dread  to  see  the  Em- 
peror return  to  Paris  and  their  inflexible  determination  to 
push  the  army  forward  in  one  supreme  attempt  to  save  the 
dynasty  ;  and  the  poor  Emperor,  that  wretched  man  for  whom 
there  was  no  place  in  all  his  vast  empire,  was  to  be  bundled 
to  and  fro  among  the  baggage  of  his  army  like  some  worth- 
less, worn-out  piece  of  furniture,  condemned  to  the  irony  of 
dragging  behind  him  in  his  suite  his  imperial  household, 
cent-gardes,  horses,  carriages,  cooks,  silver  stew-pans  and 
cases  of  champagne,  trailing  his  flaunting  mantle,  embroidered 
with  the  Napoleonic  bees,  through  the  blood  and  mire  of  the 
highways  of  his  retreat. 

At  midnight  Maurice  was  not  asleep  ;  he  was  feverishly 
wakeful,  and  his  gloomy  reflections  kept  him  tossing  and 
tumbling  on  his  pallet.  He  finally  arose  and  went  outside, 
where  he  found  comfort  and  refreshment  in  the  cool  night  air. 
The  sky  was  overspread  with  clouds,  the  darkness  was  intense  ; 
along  the  front  of  the  line  the  expiring  watch  fires  gleamed 
with  a  red  and  sullen  light  at  distant  intervals,  and  in  the 
deathlike,  boding  silence  could  be  heard  the  long-drawn 
breathing  of  the  hundred  thousand  men  who  slumbered  there. 
Then  Maurice  became  more  tranquil,  and  there  descended  on 
him  a  sentiment  of  brotherhood,  full  of  compassionate  kind- 
ness for  all  those  slumbering  fellow-creatures,  of  whom  thou- 
sands would  soon  be  sleeping  the  sleep  of  death.  Brave 
fellows  !  True,  many  of  them  were  thieves  and  drunkards, 
but  think  of  what  they  had  suffered  and  the  excuse  there  was 


66  TffR   DOWNFALL 

for  them  in  the  universal  demoralization !  The  glorious 
veterans  of  Solferino  and  Sebastopol  were  but  a  handful, 
incorporated  in  the  ranks  of  the  newly  raised  troops,  too 
few  in  number  to  make  their  example  felt.  The  four  corps 
that  had  been  got  together  and  equipped  so  hurriedly,  devoid 
of  every  element  of  cohesion,  were  the  forlorn  hope,  the  ex- 
piatory band  that  their  rulers  were  sending  to  the  sacrifice  in 
the  endeavor  to  avert  the  wrath  of  destiny.  They  would 
bear  their  cross  to  the  bitter  end,  atoning  with  their  life's 
blood  for  the  faults  of  others,  glorious  amid  disaster  and 
defeat. 

And  then  it  was  that  Maurice,  there  in  the  darkness  that 
was  instinct  with  life,  became  conscious  that  a  great  duty  lay 
before  him.  He  ceased  to  beguile  himself  with  the  illusive 
prospect  of  great  victories  to  be  gained  ;  the  march  to  Verdun 
was  a  march  to  death,  and  he  so  accepted  it,  since  it  was 
their  lot  to  die,  with  brave  and  cheerful  resignation. 


IV. 

ON  Tuesday,  the  23d  of  August,  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing, camp  was  broken,  and  as  a  stream  that  has  momen- 
tarily expanded  into  a  lake  resumes  its  course  again,  the 
hundred  and  odd  thousand  men  of  the  army  of  Chalons  put 
themselves  in  motion  and  soon  were  pouring  onward  in  a 
resistless  torrent  ;  and  notwithstanding  the  rumors  that  had 
been  current  since  the  preceding  day,  it  was  a  great  surprise 
to  most  to  see  that  instead  of  continuing  their  retrograde 
movement  they  were  leaving  Paris  behind  them  and  turning 
their  faces  toward  the  unknown  regions  of  the  East. 

At  five  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  yth  corps  was  still  unsup- 
plied  with  cartridges.  For  two  days  the  artillerymen  had 
been  working  like  beavers  to  unload  the  materiel,  horses,  and 
stores  that  had  been  streaming  from  Metz  into  the  overcrowded 
station,  and  it  was  only  at  the  very  last  moment  that  some  cars 
of  cartridges  were  discovered  among  the  tangled  trains,  and 
that  a  detail  which  included  Jean  among  its  numbers  was 
enabled  to  bring  back  two  hundred  and  forty  thousand  on 
carts  that  they  had  hurriedly  requisitioned.  Jean  distributed 
the  regulation  number,  one  hundred  cartridges  to  a  man, 
among  his  squad,  just  as  Gaude,  the  company  bugler,  sounded 
the  order  to  march. 


THE   DOWNFALL  67 

The  io6th  was  not  to  pass  through  Rheims,  their  orders 
being  to  turn  the  city  and  debouch  into  the  Chalons  road 
farther  on,  but  on  this  occasion  there  was  the  usual  failure  to 
regulate  the  order  and  time  of  marching,  so  that,  the  four 
corps  having  commenced  to  move  at  the  same  moment,  they 
collided  when  they  came  out  upon  the  roads  that  they  were  to 
traverse  in  common  and  the  result  was  inextricable  confusion. 
Cavalry  and  artillery  were  constantly  cutting  in  among  the 
infantry  and  bringing  them  to  a  halt  ;  whole  brigades  were 
compelled  to  leave  the  road  and  stand  at  ordered  arms  in  the 
plowed  fields  for  more  than  an  hour,  waiting  until  the  way 
should  be  cleared.  And  to  make  matters  worse,  they  had 
hardly  left  the  camp  when  a  terrible  storm  broke  over  them, 
the  rain  pelting  down  in  torrents,  drenching  the  men  com- 
pletely and  adding  intolerably  to  the  weight  of  knapsacks  and 
great-coats.  Just  as  the  rain  began  to  hold  up,  however,  the 
io6th  saw  a  chance  to  go  forward,  while  some  zouaves  in  an 
adjoining  field,  who  were  forced  to  wait  yet  for  a  while,  amused 
themselves  by  pelting  one  another  with  balls  of  moist  earth, 
and  the  consequent  condition  of  their  uniforms  afforded  them 
much  merriment. 

The  sun  suddenly  came  shining  out  again  in  the  clear  sky, 
the  warm,  bright  sun  of  an  August  morning,  and  with  it  came 
returning  gayety  ;  the  men  were  steaming  like  a  wash  of  linen 
hung  out  to  dry  in  the  open  air  :  the  moisture  evaporated 
from  their  clothing  in  little  more  time  than  it  takes  to  tell  it, 
and  when  they  were  warm  and  dry  again,  like  dogs  who  shake 
the  water  from  them  when  they  emerge  from  a  pond,  they 
chaffed  one  another  good-naturedly  on  their  bedraggled 
appearance  and  the  splashes  of  mud  on  their  red  trousers. 
Wherever  two  roads  intersected  another  halt  was  necessitated  ; 
the  last  one  was  in  a  little  village  just  beyond  the  walls  of  the 
city,  in  front  of  a  small  saloon  that  seemed  to  be  doing  a 
thriving  business.  Thereon  it  occurred  to  Maurice  to  treat 
the  squad  to  a  drink,  by  way  of  wishing  them  all  good 
luck. 

"  Corporal,  will  you  allow  me ' 

Jean,  after  hesitating  a  moment,  accepted  a  "  pony  "  of 
brandy  for  himself.  Loubet  and  Chouteau  were  of  the  party 
(the  latter  had  been  watchful  and  submissive  since  that  day 
when  the  corporal  had  evinced  a  disposition  to  use  his  heavy 
fists),  and  also  Pache  and  Lapoulle,  a  couple  of  very  decent 
fellows  when  there  was  no  one  to  set  them  a  bad  example. 


68  THE  DOWNFALL 

"Your  good  health,  corporal !  "  'said  Chouteauin  a  respect- 
ful, whining  tone. 

"  Thank  you  ;  here's  hoping  that  you  may  bring  back  your 
head  and  all  your  legs  and  arms  !  "  Jean  politely  replied, 
while  the  others  laughed  approvingly. 

But  the  column  was  about  to  move  ;  Captain  Beaudoin 
came  up  with  a  scandalized  look  on  his  face  and  a  reproof  at 
the  tip  of  his  tongue,  while  Lieutenant  Rochas,  more  indul- 
gent to  the  small  weaknesses  of  his  men,  turned  his  head  so  as 
not  to  see  what  was  going  on.  And  now  they  were  stepping 
out  at  a  good  round  pace  along  the  Chalons  road,  which 
stretched  before  them  for  many  a  long  league,  bordered  with 
trees  on  either  side,  undeviatingly  straight,  like  a  never-ending 
ribbon  unrolled  between  the  fields  of  yellow  stubble  that  were 
dotted  here  and  there  with  tall  stacks  and  wooden  windmills 
brandishing  their  lean  arms.  More  to  the  north  were  rows  of 
telegraph  poles,  indicating  the  position  of  other  roads,  on 
which  they  could  distinguish  the  black,  crawling  lines  of  other 
marching  regiments.  In  many  places  the  troops  had  left  the 
highway  and  were  moving  in  deep  columns  across  the  open 
plain.  To  the  left  and  front  a  cavalry  brigade  was  seen,  jog- 
ging along  at  an  easy  trot  in  a  blaze  of  sunshine.  The  entire 
wide  horizon,  usually  so  silent  and  deserted,  was  alive  and 
populous  with  those  streams  of  men,  pressing  onward,  onward, 
in  long  drawn,  black  array,  like  the  innumerable  throng  of  in- 
sects from  some  gigantic  ant-hill. 

About  nine  o'clock  the  regiment  left  the  Chalons  road  and 
wheeled  to  the  left  into  another  that  led  to  Suippe,  which, 
like  the  first,  extended,  straight  as  an  arrow's  flight,  far  as  the 
eye  could  see.  The  men  marched  at  the  route-step  in  two 
straggling  files  along  either  side  of  the  road,  thus  leaving  the 
central  space  free  for  the  officers,  and  Maurice  could  not  help 
noticing  their  anxious,  care-worn  air,  in  striking  contrast  with 
the  jollity  and  good-humor  of  the  soldiers,  who  were  happy 
as  children  to  be  on  the  move  once  more.  As  the  squad  was- 
near  the  head  of  the  column  he  could  even  distinguish  the 
Colonel,  M.  de  Vineuil,  in  the  distance,  and  was  impressed  by 
the  grave  earnestness  of  his  manner,  and  his  tall,  rigid  form, 
swaying  in  cadence  to  the  motion  of  his  charger.  The  band 
had  been  sent  back  to  the  rear,  to  keep  company  with  the 
regimental  wagons  ;  it  played  but  once  during  that  entire  cam- 
paign. Then  came  the  ambulances  and  engineer's  train  attached 
to  the  division,  and  succeeding  that  the  corps  train,  an  intermin- 


THE  DOWNFALL  69 

able  procession  of  forage  wagons,  closed  vans  for  stores,  carts 
for  baggage,  and  vehicles  of  every  known  description,  occupy- 
ing a  space  of  road  nearly  four  miles  in  length,  and  which,  at  the 
infrequent  curves  in  the  highway,  they  could  see  winding  be- 
hind them  like  the  tail  of  some  great  serpent.  And  last  of 
all,  at  the  extreme  rear  of  the  column,  came  the  herds,  "  ra- 
tions on  the  hoof,"  a  surging,  bleating,  bellowing  mass  of 
sheep  and  oxen,  urged  on  by  blows  and  raising  clouds  of 
dust,  reminding  one  of  the  old  warlike  peoples  of  the  East 
and  their  migrations. 

Lapoulle  meantime  would  every  now  and  then  give  a  hitch 
of  his  shoulders  in  an  attempt  to  shift  the  weight  of  his  knap- 
sack when  it  began  to  be  too  heavy.  The  others,  alleging 
that  he  was  the  strongest,  were  accustomed  to  make  him  carry 
the  various  utensils  that  were  common  to  the  squad,  including 
the  big  kettle  and  the  water-pail ;  on  this  occasion  they  had 
even  saddled  him  with  the  company  shovel,  assuring  him 
that  it  was  a  badge  of  honor.  So  far  was  he  from  complain- 
ing that  he  was  now  laughing  at  a  song  with  which  Loubet, 
the  tenor  of  the  squad,  was  trying  to  beguile  the  tedium  of 
the  way.  Loubet  had  made  himself  quite  famous  by  reason 
of  his  knapsack,  in  which  was  to  be  found  a  little  of  every- 
thing :  linen,  an  extra  pair  of  shoes,  haberdashery,  chocolate, 
brushes,  a  plate  and  cup,  to  say  nothing  of  his  regular 
rations  of  biscuit  and  coffee,  and  although  the  all-devour- 
ing receptacle  also  contained  his  cartridges,  and  his  blankets 
were  rolled  on  top  of  it,  together  with  the  shelter-tent  and 
stakes,  the  load  nevertheless  appeared  light,  such  an  excel- 
lent system  he  had  of  packing  his  trunk,  as  he  himself  ex- 
pressed it. 

"  It's  a  beastly  country,  all  the  same  !  "  Chouteau  kept  re- 
peating from  time  to  time,  casting  a  look  of  intense  disgust 
over  the  dreary  plains  of  "  lousy  Champagne." 

Broad  expanses  of  chalky  ground  of  a  dirty  white  lay  before 
and  around  them,  and  seemed  to  have  no  end.  Not  a  farm- 
house to  be  seen  anywhere,  not  a  living  being ;  nothing  but 
flocks  of  crows,  forming  small  spots  of  blackness  on  the  im- 
mensity of  the  gray  waste.  On  the  left,  far  away  in  the  dis- 
tance, the  low  hills  that  bounded  the  horizon  in  that  direction 
were  crowned  by  woods  of  somber  pines,  while  on  the  right 
an  unbroken  wall  of  trees  indicated  the  course  of  the  river 
Vesle.  But  over  there  behind  the  hills  they  had  seen  for  the 
last  hour  a  dense  smoke  was  rising,  the  heavy  clouds  of  whigh 


7»  THE    DOWNFALL 

obscured  the  sky  and  told  of  a  dreadful  conflagration  raging  al 
no  great  distance. 

"  What  is  burning  over  there  ?  "  was  the  question  that  was 
on  the  lips  of  everyone. 

The  answer  was  quickly  given  and  ran  through  the  column 
from  front  to  rear.  The  camp  of  Chalons  had  been  fired,  it 
was  said,  by  order  of  the  Emperor,  to  keep  the  immense  col- 
lection of  stores  there  from  falling  into  the  hands  of  the 
Prussians,  and  for  the  last  two  days  it  had  been  going  up  in 
flame  and  smoke.  The  cavalry  of  the  rear  guard  had  been 
instructed  to  apply  the  torch  to  two  immense  warehouses, 
filled  with  tents,  tent-poles,  mattresses,  clothing,  shoes, 
blankets,  mess  utensils,  supplies  of  every  kind  sufficient  for 
the  equipment  of  a  hundred  thousand  men.  Stacks  of  forage 
also  had  been  lighted,  and  were  blazing  like  huge  beacon-fires, 
and  an  oppressive  silence  settled  down  upon  the  army  as  it 
pursued  its  march  across  the  wide,  solitary  plain  at  sight  of 
that  dusky,  eddying  column  that  rose  from  behind  the  distant 
hills,  filling  the  heavens  with  desolation.  All  that  was  to  be 
heard  in  the  bright  sunlight  was  the  measured  tramp  of  many 
feet  upon  the  hollow  ground,  while  involuntarily  the  eyes  of 
all  were  turned  on  that  livid  cloud  whose  baleful  shadows 
rested  on  their  march  for  many  a  league. 

Their  spirits  rose  again  when  they  made  their  midday  halt 
in  a  field  of  stubble,  where  the  men  could  seat  themselves  on 
their  unslung  knapsacks  and  refresh  themselves  with  a  bite. 
The  large  square  biscuits  could  only  be  eaten  by  crumbling 
them  in  the  soup,  but  the  little  round  ones  were  quite  a  deli- 
cacy, light  and  appetizing  ;  the  only  trouble  was  that  they  left 
an  intolerable  thirst  behind  them.  Pache  sang  a  hymn,  being 
invited  thereto,  the  squad  joining  in  the  chorus.  Jean  smiled 
good-naturedly  without  attempting  to  check  them  in  their 
amusement,  while  Maurice,  at  sight  of  the  universal  cheerful- 
ness and  the  good  order  with  which  their  first  day's  march  was 
conducted,  felt  a  revival  of  confidence.  The  remainder  of 
the  allotted  task  of  the  day  was  performed  with  the  same 
light-hearted  alacrity,  although  the  last  five  miles  tried  their 
endurance.  They  had  abandoned  the  high  road,  leaving  the 
village  of  Prosnes  to  their  right,  in  order  to  avail  themselves 
of  a  short  cut  across  a  sandy  heath  diversified  by  an  occasional 
thin  pine  wood,  and  the  entire  division,  with  its  interminable 
train  at  its  heels,  turned  and  twisted  in  and  out  among  the 
trees,  sinking  ankle  deep  in  the  yielding  sand  at  every  step. 


THE  DOWNFALL  71 

It  seemed  as  if  the  cheerless  waste  would  never  end  ;  all  that 
they  met  was  a  flock  of  very  lean  sheep,  guarded  by  a  big 
black  dog. 

It  was  about  four  o'clock  when  at  last  the  io6th  halted  for 
the  night  at  Dontrien,  a  small  village  on  the  banks  of  the 
Suippe.  The  little  stream  winds  among  some  pretty  groves 
of  trees  ;  the  old  church  stands  in  the  middle  of  the  grave- 
yard, which  is  shaded  in  its  entire  extent  by  a  magnificent 
chestnut.  The  regiment  pitched  its  tents  on  the  left  bank,  in 
a  meadow  that  sloped  gently  down  to  the  margin  of  the  river. 
The  officers  said  that  all  the  four  corps  would  bivouac  that 
evening  on  the  line  of  the  Suippe  between  Auberive  and 
Hentregiville,  occupying  the  intervening  villages  of  Dontrien, 
Betheniville  and  Pont-Faverger,  making  a  line  of  battle 
nearly  five  leagues  long. 

Gaude  immediately  gave  the  call  for  "  distribution,"  and 
Jean  had  to  run  for  it,  for  the  corporal  was  steward -in-chief, 
and  it  behooved  him  to  be  on  the  lookout  to  protect  his  men's 
interests.  He  had  taken  Lapoulle  with  him,  and  in  a  quarter 
of  an  hour  they  returned  with  some  ribs  of  beef  and  a  bundle 
of  firewood.  In  the  short  space  of  time  succeeding  their 
arrival  three  steers  of  the  herd  that  followed  the  column  had 
been  knocked  in  the  head  under  a  great  oak-tree,  skinned,  and 
cut  up.  Lapoulle  had  to  return  for  bread,  which  the  villagers 
of  Dontrien  had  been  baking  all  that  afternoon  in  their  ovens. 
There  was  really  no  lack  of  anything  on  that  first  day,  setting- 
aside  wine  and  tobacco,  with  which  the  troops  were  to  be 
obliged  to  dispense  during  the  remainder  of  the  campaign. 

Upon  Jean's  return  he  found  Chouteau  engaged  in  raising 
the  tent,  assisted  by  Pache  ;  he  looked  at  them  for  a  moment 
wiUi  the  critical  eye  of  an  old  soldier  who  had  no  great  opinion 
of  their  abilities. 

"  It  will  do  very  well  if  the  .weather  is  fine  to-night,"  he  said 
at  last,  "  but  if  it  should  come  on  to  blow  we  would  like  enough 
wake  up  and  find  ourselves  in  the  river.  Let  me  show  you." 

And  he  was  about  to  send  Maurice  with  the  large  pail  for 
water,  but  the  young  man  had  sat  down  on  the  ground,  taken 
off  his  shoe,  and  was  examining  his  right  foot. 

"  Hallo,  there  !  what's  the  matter  with  you  ?  " 

"  My  shoe  has  chafed  my  foot  and  raised  a  blister.  My 
other  shoes  were  worn  out,  and  when  we  were  at  Rheims  I 
bought  these,  like  a  big  fool,  because  they  were  a  good  fit.  I 
should  have  selected  gunboats." 


72  THE  DOWNFALL 

Jean  kneeled  and  took  the  foot  in  his  hand,  turning  it  ovef 
as  carefully  as  if  it  had  been  a  little  child's,  with  a  disapprov- 
ing shake  of  his  head. 

"  You  must  be  careful ;  it  is  no  laughing  matter,  a  thing  like 
that.  A  soldier  without  the  use  of  his  feet  is  of  no  good  to 
himself  or  anyone  else.  When  we  were  in  Italy  my  captain 
used  always  to  say  that  it  is  the  men's  legs  that  win  battles." 

He  bade  Pache  go  for  the  water,  no  very  hard  task,  as  the 
river  was  but  a  few  yards  away,  and  Loubet,  having  in  the 
meantime  dug  a  shallow  trench  and  lit  his  fire,  was  enabled  to 
commence  operations  on  his  pot-au-feu,  which  he  did  by  put- 
ting on  the  big  kettle  full  of  water  and  plunging  into  it  the 
meat  that  he  had  previously  corded  together  with  a  bit  of 
twine,  secundum  artem.  Then  it  was  solid  comfort  for  them  to 
watch  the  boiling  of  the  soup  ;  the  whole  squad,  their  chores 
done  up  and  their  day's  labor  ended,  stretched  themselves  on 
the  grass  around  the  fire  in  a  family  group,  full  of  tender 
anxiety  for  the  simmering  meat,  while  Loubet  occasionally 
stirred  the  pot  with  a  gravity  fitted  to  the  importance  of  his 
position.  Like  children  and  savages,  their  sole  instinct  was  to 
eat  and  sleep,  careless  of  the  morrow,  while  advancing  to  face 
unknown  risks  and  dangers. 

But  Maurice  had  unpacked  his  knapsack  and  come  across 
a  newspaper  that  he  had  bought  at  Rheims,  and  Chouteau 
asked  : 

"  Is  there  anything  about  the  Prussians  in  it  ?  Read  us  the 
,e*vs  ! " 

They  were  a  happy  family  under  Jean's  mild  despotism. 
Maurice  good-naturedly  read  such  news  as  he  thought  might 
interest  them,  while  Pache,  the  seamstress  of  the  company, 
mended  his  greatcoat  for  him  and  Lapoulle  cleaned  his  musket. 
The  first  item  was  a  splendid  victory  won  by  Bazaine,  who  had 
driven  an  entire  Prussian  corps  into  the  quarries  of  Jaumont, 
and  the  trumped-up  tale  was  told  with  an  abundance  of 
dramatic  detail,  how  men  and  horses  went  over  the  precipice 
and  were  crushed  on  the  rocks  beneath  out  of  all  semblance  of 
humanity,  so  that  there  was  not  one  whole  corpse  found  for 
burial.  Then  there  were  minute  details  of  the  pitiable  condi- 
tion of  the  German  armies  ever  since  they  had  invaded  France. : 
the  ill-fed,  poorly  equipped  soldiers  were  actually  falling  from 
inanition  and  dying  by  the  roadside  of  horrible  diseases. 
Another  article  told  how  the  king  of  Prussia  had  the  diarrhea, 
and  how  Bismarck  had  broken  his  leg  in  jumping  from  the 


THE  DOWNFALL  73 

window  of  an  inn  where  a  party  of  zouaves  had  just  missed 
capturing  him.  Capital  news  !  Lapoulle  laughed  over  it  as  if 
he  would  split  his  sides,  while  Chouteau  and  the  others,  with- 
out expressing  the  faintest  doubt,  chuckled  at  the  idea  that 
soon  they  would  be  picking  up  Prussians  as  boys  pick  up 
sparrows  in  a  field  after  a  hail-storm.  But  they  laughed 
loudest  at  old  Bismarck's  accident  ;  oh  !  the  zouaves  and  the 
turcos,  they  were  the  boys  for  one's  money  !  It  was  said  that 
the  Germans  were  in  an  ecstasy  of  fear  and  rage,  declaring 
that  it  was  unworthy  of  a  nation  that  claimed  to  be  civilized 
to  employ  such  heathen  savages  in  its  armies.  Although  they 
had  been  decimated  at  Froeschwiller,  the  foreign  troops  seemed 
to  have  a  good  deal  of  life  left  in  them. 

It  was  just  striking  six  from  the  steeple  of  the  little  church 
of  Dontrien  when  Loubet  shouted  : 

"  Come  to  supper  !  " 

The  squad  lost  no  time  in  seating  themselves  in  a  circle. 
At  the  very  last  moment  Loubet  had  succeeded  in  getting 
some  vegetables  from  a  peasant  who  lived  hard  by.  That 
made  the  crowning  glory  of  the  feast :  a  soup  perfumed  with 
carrots  and  onions,  that  went  down  the  throat  soft  as  velvet — 
what  could  they  have  desired  more  ?  The  spoons  rattled 
merrily  in  the  little  wooden  bowls.  Then  it  devolved  on  Jean, 
who  always  served  the  portions,  to  distribute  the  beef,  and  it 
behooved  him  that  day  to  do  it  with  the  strictest  impartiality, 
for  hungry  eyes  were  watching  him  and  there  would  have 
been  a  growl  had  anyone  received  a  larger  piece  than  his 
neighbors.  They  concluded  by  licking  the  porringers,  and 
were  smeared  with  soup  up  to  their  eyes. 

"Ah,  nom  de  Dieut"  Chouteau  declared  when  he  had 
finished,  throwing  himself  flat  on  his  back  ;  "  I  would  rather 
take  that  than  a  beating,  any  day  !  " 

Maurice,  too,  whose  foot  pained  him  less  now  that  he  could 
give  it  a  little  rest,  was  conscious  of  that  sensation  of  well- 
being  that  is  the  result  of  a  full  stomach.  He  was  beginning 
to  take  more  kindly  to  his  rough  companions,  and  to  bring 
himself  down  nearer  to  their  level  under  the  pressure  of  the 
physical  necessities  of  their  life  in  common.  That  night  he 
slept  the  same  deep  sleep  as  did  his  five  tent-mates  ;  they  all 
huddled  close  together,  finding  the  sensation  of  animal  warmth 
not  disagreeable  in  the  heavy  dew  that  fell.  It  is  necessary 
to  state  that  Lapoulle,  at  the  instigation  of  Loubet,  had  gone 
to  a  stack  not  far  away  and  feloniously  appropriated  a  quantity 


74  THE   DOWNFALL 

of  straw,  in  which  our  six  gentlemen  snored  as  if  it  had  been 
a  bed  of  down.  And  from  Auberive  to  Hentregiville,  along 
the  pleasant  banks  of -the  Suippe  as  it  meandered  sluggishly 
between  its  willows,  the  fires  of  those  hundred  thousand 
sleeping  men  illuminated  the  starlit  night  for  fifteen  miles, 
like  a  long  array  of  twinkling  stars. 

At  sunrise  they  made  coffee,  pulverizing  the  berries  in  a 
wooden  bowl  with  a  musket-butt,  throwing  the  powder  into 
boiling  water,  and  settling  it  with  a  drop  of  cold  water.  The 
luminary  rose  that  morning  in  a  bank  of  purple  and  gold, 
affording  a  spectacle  of  royal  magnificence,  but  Maurice  had 
no  eye  for  such  displays,  and  Jean,  with  the  weather-wisdom 
of  a  peasant,  cast  an  anxious  glance  at  the  red  disk,  which 
presaged  rain  ;  and  it  was  for  that  reason  that,  the  surplus  of 
bread  baked  the  day  before  having  been  distributed  and  the 
squad  having  received  three  loaves,  he  reproved  severely 
Loubet  and  Pache  for  making  them  fast  on  the  outside  of 
their  knapsacks  ;  but  the  tents  were  folded  and  the  knapsacks 
packed,  and  so  no  one  paid  any  attention  to  him.  Six  o'clock 
was  sounding  from  all  the  bells  of  the  village  when  the  army 
put* itself  in  motion  and  stoutly  resumed  its  advance  in  the 
bright  hopefulness  of  the  dawn  of  the  new  day. 

The  io6th,  in  order  to  reach  the  road  that  leads  from 
Rheims  to  Vouziers,  struck  into  a  crossroad,  and  for  more 
than  an  hour  their  way  was  an  ascending  one.  Below  them, 
toward  the  north,  Betheniville  was  visible  among  the  trees, 
where  the  Emperor  was  reported  to  have  slept,  and  when 
they  reached  the  Vouziers  road  the  level  country  of  the  pre- 
ceding day  again  presented  itself  to  their  gaze  and  the  lean 
fields  of  "  lousy  Champagne  "  stretched  before  them  in  weari- 
some monotony.  They  now  had  the  Arne,  an  insignificant 
stream,  flowing  on  their  left,  while  to  the  right  the  treeless, 
naked  country  stretched  far  as  the  eye  could  see  in  an  ap- 
parently interminable  horizon.  They  passed  through  a  village 
or  two  :  Saint-Clement,  with  its  single  winding  street  bordered 
by  a  double  row  of  houses,  Saint-Pierre,  a  little  town  of  mi^'-1-- 
rich  men  who  had  barricaded  their  doors  and  windows.  The 
long  halt  occurred  about  ten  o'clock,  near  another  village, 
Saint-Etienne,  where  the  men  were  highly  delighted  to  find 
tobacco  once  more.  The  yth  corps  had  been  cut  up  into 
several  columns,  and  the  io6th  headed  one  of  these  columns, 
having  behind  it  only  a  battalion  of  chasseurs  and  the  reserve 
artillery.  Maurice  turned  his  head  at  every  bend  in  the  road 


THE  DOWNFALL  75 

to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  long  train  that  had  so  excited  his 
interest  the  day  before,  but  in  vain  ;  the  herds  had  gone  off 
in  some  other  direction,  and  all  he  could  see  was  the  guns, 
looming  inordinately  large  upon  those  level  plains,  like  monster 
insects  of  somber  mien., 

After  leaving  Saint-Etienne,  however,  there  was  a  change 
for  the  worse,  and  the  road  from  bad  became  abominable,  ris- 
ing by  an  easy  ascent  between  great  sterile  fields  in  which  the 
only  signs  of  vegetation  were  the  everlasting  pine  woods  with 
their  dark  verdure,  forming  a  dismal  contrast  with  the  gray- 
white  soil.  It  was  the  most  forlorn  spot  they  had  seen  yet. 
The  ill-paved  road,  washed  by  the  recent  rains,  was  a  lake  of 
mud,  of  tenacious,  slippery  gray  clay,  which  held  the  men's 
feet  like  so  much  pitch.  It  was  wearisome  work  ;  the  troops 
were  exhausted  and  could  not  get  forward,  and  as  if  things 
were  not  bad  enough  already,  the  rain  suddenly  began  to 
come  down  most  violently.  The  guns  were  mired  and  had  to 
be  left  in  the  road. 

Chouteau,  who  had  been  given  the  squad's  rice  to  carry, 
fatigued  and  exasperated  with  his  heavy  load,  watched  for  an 
opportunity  when  no  one  was  looking  and  dropped  the  pack- 
age. But  Loubet  had  seen  him. 

"  See  here,  that's  no  way !  you  ought  not  to  do  that. 
The  comrades  will  be  hungry  by  and  by." 

"  Let  be  !"  replied  Chouteau.  "There  is  plenty  of  rice  ; 
they  will  give  us  more  at  the  end  of  the  march." 

And  Loubet,  who  had  the  bacon,  convinced  by  such  cogent 
reasoning,  dropped  his  load  in  turn. 

Maurice  was  suffering  more  and  more  with  his  foot,  of 
which  the  heel  was  badly  inflamed.  He  limped  along  in  such 
a  pitiable  state  that  Jean's  sympathy  was  aroused. 

"  Does  it  hurt  ?  is  it  no  better,  eh  ?  "  And  as  the  men  were 
halted  just  then  for  a  breathing  spell,  he  gave  him  a  bit  of 
good  advice.  "  Take  off  your  shoe  and  go  barefoot  ;  the 
cool  earth  will  ease  the  pain." 

And  in  that  way  Maurice  found  that  he  could  keep  up  with 
his  comrades  with  some  degree  of  comfort  ;  he  experienced  a 
sentiment  of  deep  gratitude.  It  was  a  piece  of  great  good 
luck  that  their  squad  had  a  corporal  like  him,  a  man  who  had 
seen  service  and  knew  all  the  tricks  of  the  trade  :  he  was  an 
uncultivated  peasant,  of  course,  but  a  good  fellow  all  the 
same. 

It   was  late  when   they  reached  their  place  of  bivouac  at 


76  TH£  DOWNFALL 

Contreuve,  after  marching  a  long  time  on  the  Chalons  and 
Vouziers  road  and  descending  by  a  steep  path  into  the  valley 
of  the  Semide,  up  which  they  came  through  a  stretch  of  nar- 
row meadows.  The  landscape  had  undergone  a  change ; 
they  were  now  in  the  Ardennes,  and  from  the  lofty  hills  above 
the  village  where  the  engineers  had  staked  off  the  ground  for 
the  7th  corps'  camp,  the  valley  of  the  Aisne  was  dimly  visible 
in  the  distance,  veiled  in  the  pale  mists  of  the  passing 
shower. 

Six  o'clock  came  and  there  had  been  no  distribution  of 
rations,  whereon  Jean,  in  order  to  keep  occupied,  apprehen- 
sive also  of  the  consequences  that  might  result  from  the  high 
wind  that  was  springing  up,  determined  to  attend  in  person 
to  the  setting  up  of  the  tent.  He  showed  his  men  how  it 
should  be  done,  selecting  a  bit  of  ground  that  sloped  away  a 
little  to  one  side,  setting  the  pegs  at  the  proper  angle,  and 
digging  a  little  trench  around  the  whole  to  carry  off  the 
water.  Maurice  was  excused  from  the  usual  nightly  drudg- 
ery on  account  of  his  sore  foot,  and  was  an  interested  witness 
of  the  intelligence  and  handiness  of  the  big  young  fellow 
whose  general  appearance  was  so  stolid  and  ungainly.  He 
was  completely  knocked  up  with  fatigue,  but  the  confidence 
that  they  were  now  advancing  with  a  definite  end  in  view 
served  to  sustain  him.  They  had  had  a  hard  time  of  it  since 
they  left  Rheims,  making  nearly  forty  miles  in  two  days' 
marching  ;  if  they  could  maintain  the  pace  and  if  they  kept 
straight  on  in  the  direction  they  were  pursuing,  there  could 
be  no  doubt  that  they  would  destroy  the  second  German 
army  and  effect  a  junction  with  Bazaine  before  the  third,  the 
Crown  Prince  of  Prussia's,  which  was  said  to  be  at  Vitry-le 
Francois,  could  get  up  to  Verdun. 

"  Oh,  come  now  !  I  wonder  if  they  are  going  to  let  us 
starve  !  "  was  Chouteau's  remark  when,  at  seven  o'clock,  there 
was  still  no  sign  of  rations. 

By  way  of  taking  time  by  the  forelock,  Jean  had  instructed 
Loubet  to  light  the  fire  and  put  on  the  pot,  and  as  there  was 
no  issue  of  fire-wood,  he  had  been  compelled  to  be  blind  to 
the  slight  irregularity  of  the  proceeding  when  that  individual 
remedied  the  omission  by  tearing  the  palings  from  an  adjacent 
fence.  When  he  suggested  knocking  up  a  dish  of  bacon  and 
rice,  however,  the  truth  had  to  come  out,  and  he  was  informed 
that  the  rice  and  bacon  were  lying  in  the  mud  of  the  Saint- 
Etienne  road.  Chouteau  lied  with  the  greatest  effrontery,  de- 


THE  DOWNFALL  *7 

claring  that  the  package  must  have  slipped  from  his  shoulders 
without  his  noticing  it. 

"  You  are  a  couple  of  pigs  !  "  Jean  shouted  angrily,  "  to  throw 
away  good  victuals,  when  there  are  so  many  poor  devils  going 
with  an  empty  stomach  !  " 

It  was  the  same  with  the  three  loaves  that  had  been  fastened 
outside  the  knapsacks  ;  they  had  not  listened  to  his  warning 
and  the  consequence  was  that  the  rain  had  soaked  the  bread 
and  reduced  it  to  paste. 

"  A  pretty  pickle  we  are  in  !  "  he  continued.  "  We  had 
food  in  plenty,  and  now  here  we  are,  without  a  crumb  !  Ah  ! 
you  are  a  pair  of  dirty  pigs  !  " 

At  that  moment  the  first  sergeant's  call  was  heard,  and 
Sergeant  Sapin,  returning  presently  with  his  usual  doleful  air, 
informed  the  men  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  distribute  ra. 
tions  that  evening,  and  that  they  would  have  to  content  them- 
selves with  what  eatables  they  had  on  their  persons.  It  was 
reported  that  the  trains  had  been  delayed  by  the  bad  weather, 
and  as  to  the  herds,  they  must  have  straggled  off  as  a  result 
of  conflicting  orders.  Subsequently  it  became  known  that  on 
that  day  the  5th  and  i2th  corps  had  got  up  to  Rethel,  where 
the  headquarters  of  the  army  were  established,  and  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  neighboring  villages,  possessed  with  a  mad  desire 
to  see  the  Emperor,  had  inaugurated  a  hegira  toward  that 
town,  taking  with  them  everything  in  the  way  of  provisions ; 
so  that  when  the  yth  corps  came  up  they  found  themselves  in  a 
land  of  nakedness  :  no  bread,  no  meat,  no  people,  even.  To 
add  to  their  distress  a  misconception  of  orders  had  caused  the 
supplies  of  the  commissary  department  to  be  directed  on 
Chene-Populeux.  This  was  a  state  of  affairs  that  during  the 
entire  campaign  formed  the  despair  of  the  wretched  commis- 
saries, who  had  to  endure  the  abuse  and  execrations  of  the 
whole  army,  while  their  sole  fault  lay  in  being  punctual  at 
rendezvous  at  which  the  troops  failed  to  appear. 

"  It  serves  you  right,  you  dirty  pigs  !  "  continued  Jean  in 
his  wrath,  "  and  you  don't  deserve  the  trouble  that  I  am  going 
to  have  in  finding  you  something  to  eat,  for  I  suppose  it  is  my 
duty  not  to  let  you  starve,  all  the  same."  And  he  started  off 
to  see  what  he  could  find,  as  every  good  corporal  does  under 
such  circumstances,  taking  with  him  Pache,  who  was  a  favorite 
on  account  of  his  quiet  manner,  although  he  considered  him 
rather  too  priest-ridden. 

But  Loubet's  attention  had  just  been  attracted  to  a  little 


7 8  THE  DOWNFALL 

farmhouse,  one  of  the  last  dwellings  in  Contreuve,  some  two 
or  three  hundred  yards  away,  where  there  seemed  to  him  to 
be  promise  of  good  results.  He  called  Chouteau  and  La- 
poulle  to  him  and  said  : 

"  Come  along,  and  let's  see  what  we  can  do.  I've  a  notion 
there's  grub  to  be  had  over  that  way." 

So  Maurice  was  left  to  keep  up  the  fire  and  watch  the  kettle, 
in  which  the  water  was  beginning  to  boil.  He  had  seated 
himself  on  his  blanket  and  taken  off  his  shoe  in  order  to  give 
his  blister  a  chance  to  heal.  It  amused  him  to  look  about 
the  camp  and  watch  the  behavior  of  the  different  squads  now 
that  there  was  to  be  no  issue  of  rations  ;  the  deduction  that  he 
arrived  at  was  that  some  of  them  were  in  a  chronic  state  of 
destitution,  while  others  reveled  in  continual  abundance,  and 
that  these  conditions  were  ascribable  to  the  greater  or  less  de- 
gree of  tact  and  foresight  of  the  corporal  and  his  men.  Amid 
the  confusion  that  reigned  about  the  stacks  and  tents  he  re- 
marked some  squads  who  had  not  been  able  even  to  start  a 
fire,  others  of  which  the  men  had  abandoned  hope  and  lain 
themselves  resignedly  down  for  the  night,  while  others  again 
were  ravenously  devouring,  no  one  knew  what,  something 
good,  no  doubt.  Another  thing  that  impressed  him  was  the 
good  order  that  prevailed  in  the  artillery,  which  had  its  camp 
above  him,  on  the  hillside.  The  setting  sun  peeped  out  from 
a  rift  in  the  clouds  and  his  rays  were  reflected  from  the  bur- 
nished guns,  from  which  the  men  had  cleansed  the  coat  of  mud 
that  they  had  picked  up  along  the  road. 

In  the  meantime  General  Bourgain-Desfeuilles,  command- 
ing the  brigade,  had  found  quarters  suited  to  his  taste  in  the 
little  farmhouse  toward  which  the  designs  of  Loubet  and  his 
companions  were  directed.  He  had  discovered  something 
that  had  the  semblance  of  a  bed  and  was  seated  at  table  with 
a  roasted  chicken  and  an  omelette  before  him  ;  consequently 
he  was  in  the  best  of  humors,  and  as  Colonel  de  Vineuil  hap- 
pened in  just  then  on  regimental  business,  had^invited  him  to 
dine.  They  were  enjoying  their  repast,  therefore,  waited  on 
by  a  tall,  light-haired  individual  who  had  been  in  the  farmer's 
service  only  three  days  and  claimed  to  be  an  Alsatian,  one  of 
those  who  had  been  forced  to  leave  their  country  after  the 
disaster  of  Froeschwiller.  The  general  did  not  seem  to  think 
it  necessary  to  use  any  restraint  in  presence  of  the  man,  com- 
menting freely  on  the  movements  of  the  army,  and  finally, 
forgetful  of  the  fact  that  he  was  not  an  inhabitant  of  the 


THE   DOWNFALL  79 

country,  began  to  question  him  about  localities  and  distances. 
His  questions  displayed  such  utter  ignorance  of  the  country 
that  the  colonel,  who  had  once  lived  at  Mezieres,  was  as- 
tounded ;  he  gave  such  information  as  he  had  at  command, 
which  elicited  from  the  chief  the  exclamation  : 

"  It  is  just  like  our  idiotic  government  !  How  can  they 
expect  us  to  fight  in  a  country  of  which  we  know  nothing?" 

The  colonel's  face  assumed  a  look  of  vague  consternation. 
He  knew  that  immediately  upon  the  declaration  of  war  maps 
of  Germany  had  been  distributed  among  the  officers,  while  it 
was  quite  certain  that  not  one  of  them  had  a  map  of  France. 
He  was  amazed  and  confounded  by  what  he  had  seen  and 
heard  since  the  opening  of  the  campaign.  His  unquestioned 
bravery  was  his  distinctive  trait ;  he  was  a  somewhat  weak  and 
not  very  brilliant  commander,  which  caused  him  to  be  more 
loved  than  respected  in  his  regiment. 

"It's  too  bad  that  a  man  can't  eat  his  dinner  in  peace  !  " 
the  general  suddenly  blurted  out.  "What  does  all  that 
uproar  mean  ?  Go  and  see  what  the  matter  is,  you  Alsatian 
fellow  !  " 

But  the  farmer  anticipated  him  by  appearing  at  the  door, 
sobbing  and  gesticulating  like  a  crazy  man.  They  were  rob- 
bing him,  the  zouaves  and  chasseurs  were  plundering  his  house. 
As  he  was  the  only  one  in  the  village  who  had  anything  to 
sell  he  had  foolishly  allowed  himself  to  be  persuaded  to  open 
shop.  At  first  he  had  sold  his  eggs  and  chickens,  his  rabbits, 
and  potatoes,  without  exacting  an  extortionate  profit,  pocket- 
ing his  money  and  delivering  the  merchandise  ;  then  the 
customers  had  streamed  in  in  a  constantly  increasing  throng, 
jostling  and  worrying  the  old  man,  finally  crowding  him  aside 
and  taking  all  he  had  without  pretense  of  payment.  And^thus 
it  was  throughout  the  war  ;  if  many  peasants  concealed  their 
property  and  even  denied  a  drink  of  water  to  the  thirsty 
soldier,  it  was  because  of  their  fear  of  the  irresistible  inroads 
of  that  ocean  of  men,  who  swept  everything  clean  before  them, 
thrusting  the  wretched  owners  from  their  houses  and  beggar- 
ing them. 

"  Eh  !  will  you  hold  your  tongue,  old  man  !  "  shouted  the 
general  in  disgust.  "  Those  rascals  ought  to  be  shot  at  the 
rate  of  a  dozen  a  day.  What  is  one  to  do  ?  "  And  to  avoid 
taking  the  measures  that  the  case  demanded  he  gave  orders  to 
close  the  door,  while  the  colonel  explained  to  him  that  there 
had  been  no  issue  of  rations  and  the  men  were  hungry. 


8o  THE  DOWNFALL 

While  these  things  were  going  on  within  the  house  Loubet  out. 
side  had  discovered  a  field  of  potatoes  ;  he  and  Lapoulle  scaled 
the  fence  and  were  digging  the  precious  tubers  with  their 
hands  and  stuffing  their  pockets  with  them  when  Chouteau, 
who  in  the  pursuit  of  knowledge  was  looking  over  a  low  wall, 
gave  a  shrill  whistle  that  called  them  hurriedly  to  his  side. 
They  uttered  an  exclamation  of  wonder  and  delight ;  there 
was  a  flock  of  geese,  ten  fat,  splendid  geese,  pompously  wad- 
dling about  a  small  yard.  A  council  of  war  was  held  forth- 
with, and  it  was  decided  that  Lapoulle  should  storm  the  place 
and  make  prisoners  of  the  garrison.  The  conflict  was  a 
bloody  one  ;  the  venerable  gander  on  which  the  soldier  laid 
his  predaceous  hands  had  nearly  deprived  him  of  his  nose 
with  its  bill,  hard  and  sharp  as  a  tailor's  shears.  Then  he 
caught  it  by  the  neck  and  tried  to  choke  it,  but  the  bird  tore 
his  trousers  with  its  strong  claws  and  pummeled  him  about  the 
body  with  its  great  wings.  He  finally  ended  the  battle  by 
braining  it  with  his  fist,  and  it  had  not  ceased  to  struggle 
when  he  leaped  the  wall,  hotly  pursued  by  the  remainder  of 
the  flock,  pecking  viciously  at  his  legs. 

When  they  got  back  to  camp,  with  the  unfortunate  gander 
and  the  potatoes  hidden  in  a  bag,  they  found  that  Jean  and 
Pache  had  also  been  successful  in  their  expedition,  and  had 
enriched  the  common  larder  with  four  loaves  of  fresh  bread  and 
3  cheese  that  they  had  purchased  from  a  worthy  old  woman. 

"  The  water  is  boiling  and  we  will  make  some  coffee," 
said  the  corporal.  "  Here  are  bread  and  cheese  ;  it  will  be  a 
regular  feast  !  " 

He  could  not  help  laughing,  however,  when  he  looked  down 
and  saw  the  goose  lying  at  his  feet.  He  raised  it,  examining 
and  hefting  it  with  the  judgment  of  an  expert. 

"Ah!  upon  my  word,  a  fine  bird!  it  must  weigh  twenty 
pounds." 

"  We  were  out  walking  and  met  the  bird,"  Loubet  ex- 
plained in  an  unctuously  sanctimonious  voice,  "  and  it  insisted 
on  making  our  acquaintance." 

Jean  made  no  reply,  but  his  manner  showed  that  he  wished 
to  hear  nothing  more  of  the  matter.  Men  must  live,  and  then 
why  in  the  name  of  common  sense  should  not  those  poor 
fellows,  who  had  almost  forgotten  how  poultry  tasted,  have  a 
treat  once  in  a  way  ! 

Loubet  had  already  kindled  the  fire  into  a  roaring  blaze  ; 
Pache  and  Lapoulle  set  to  work  to  pluck  the  goose  ;  Chouteau, 


THE   DC  ONFALL  Si 

who  had  run  off  to  the  artillerymen  and  begged  a  bit  of  twine, 
came  back  and  stretched  it  between  two  bayonets  ;  the  bird 
was  suspended  in  front  of  the  hot  fire  and  Maurice  was  given 
a  cleaning  rod  and  enjoined  to  keep  it  turning.  The  big  tin 
basin  was  set  beneath  to  catch  the  gravy.  It  was  a  triumph 
of  culinary  art ;  the  whole  regiment,  attracted  by  the  savory 
odor,  came  and  formed  a  circle  about  the  fire  and  licked  their 
chops.  And  what  a  feast  it  was  !  roast  goose,  boiled  potatoes, 
bread,  cheese,  and  coffee  !  When  Jean  had  dissected  the  bird 
the  squad  applied  itself  vigorously  to  the  task  before  it ;  there 
was  no  talk  of  portions,  every  man  ate  as  much  as  he  was 
capable  of  holding.  They  even  sent  a  plate  full  over  to  the 
artillerymen  who  had  furnished  the  cord. 

The  officers  of  the  regiment  that  evening  were  a  very 
hungry  set  of  men,  for  owing  to  some  mistake  the  canteen 
wagon  was  among  the  missing,  gone  off  to  look  after  the 
corps  train,  maybe.  If  the  men  were  inconvenienced  when 
there  was  no  issue  of  rations  they  scarcely  ever  failed  to  find 
something  to  eat  in  the  end  ;  they  helped  one  another  out ;  the 
men  of  the  different  squads  "  chipped  in  "  their  resources,  each 
contributing  his  mite,  while  the  officer,  with  no  one  to  look  to 
save  himself,  was  in  a  fair  way  of  starving  as  soon  as  he  had 
not  the  canteen  to  fall  back  on.  So  there  was  a  sneer  on 
Chouteau's  face,  buried  in  the  carcass  of  the  goose,  as  he  saw 
Captain  Beaudoin  go  by  with  his  prim,  supercilious  air,  for  he 
had  heard  that  officer  summoning  down  imprecations  on  the 
driver  of  the  missing  wagon  ;  and  he  gave  him  an  evil  look  out 
of  the  corner  of  his  eye. 

"  Just  look  at  him  !  See,  his  nose  twitches  like  a  rabbit's. 
He  would  give  a  dollar  for  the  pope's  nose." 

They  all  made  merry  at  the  expense  of  the  captain,  who  was 
too  callow  and  too  harsh  to  be  a  favorite  with  his  men  ;  they 
called  him  a  pete-sec.  He  seemed  on  the  point  of  taking  the 
squad  in  hand  for  the  scandal  they  were  creating  with  their 
goose  dinner,  but  thought  better  of  the  matter,  ashamed,  prob- 
ably, to  show  his  hunger,  and  walked  off,  holding  his  head 
very  erect,  as  if  he  had  seen  nothing. 

As  for  Lieutenant  Rochas,  who  was  also  conscious  of  a  ter- 
ribly empty  sensation  in  his  epigastric  region,  he  put  on  a 
brave  face  and  laughed  good-naturedly  as  he  passed  the  thrice- 
lucky  squad.  His  men  adored  him,  in  the  first  place  because 
he  was  at  sword's  points  with  the  captain,  that  little  whipper- 
snapper  from  Saint-Cyr,  and  also  because  he  had  once  carriecj 


82  THE    DOWNFALL 

a  musket  like  themselves.  He  was  not  always  easy  to  get 
along  with,  however,  and  there  were  times  when  they  would 
have  given  a  good  deal  could  they  have  cuffed  him  for  his 
brutality. 

Jean  glanced  inquiringly  at  his  comrades,  and  their  mute 
reply  being  propitious,  arose  and  beckoned  to  Rochas  to  follow 
him  behind  the  tent. 

"  See  here,  Lieutenant,  I  hope  you  won't  be  offended,  but  if 
it  is  agreeable  to  you — 

And  he  handed  him  half  a  loaf  of  bread  and  a  wooden  bowl 
in  which  there  were  a  second  joint  of  the  bird  and  six  big 
mealy  potatoes. 

That  night  again  the  six  men  required  no  rocking  ;  they 
digested  their  dinner  while  sleeping  the  sleep  of  the  just. 
They  had  reason  to  thank  the  corporal  for  the  scientific  way 
in  which  he  had  set  up  their  tent,  for  they  were  not  even  con- 
scious of  a  small  hurricane  that  blew  up  about  two  o'clock, 
accompanied  by  a  sharp  down-pour  of  rain  ;  some  of  the  tents 
were  blown  down,  and  the  men,  wakened  out  of  their  sound 
slumber,  were  drenched  and  had  to  scamper  in  the  pitchy 
darkness,  while  theirs  stood  firm  and  they  were  warm  and 
dry,  thanks  to  the  ingenious  device  of  the  trench. 

Maurice  awoke  at  daylight,  and  as  they  were  not  to  march 
until  eight  o'clock  it  occurred  to  him  to  walk  out  to  the  artil- 
lery camp  on  the  hill  and  say  how  do  you  do  to  his  cousin 
Honore.  His  foot  was  less  painful  after  his  good  night's  rest. 
His  wonder  and  admiration  were  again  excited  by  the  neatness 
and  perfect  order  that  prevailed  throughout  the  encampment, 
the  six  guns  of  a  battery  aligned  with  mathematical  precision 
and  accompanied  by  their  caissons,  prolonges,  forage-wagons, 
and  forges.  A  short  way  off,  lined  up  to  their  rope,  stood  the 
horses,  whinnying  impatiently  and  turning  their  muzzles  to 
the  rising  sun.  He  had  no  difficulty  in  finding  Honore's  tent, 
thanks  to  the  regulation  which  assigns  to  the  men  of  each  piece 
a  separate  street,  so  that  a  single  glance  at  a  camp  suffices  to 
show  the  number  of  guns. 

When  Maurice  reached  his  destination  the  artillerymen  were 
already  stirring  and  about  to  drink  their  coffee,  and  a  quarrel 
had  arisen  between  Adolphe,  the  forward  driver,  and  Louis, 
the  gunner,  his  mate.  For  the  entire  three  years  that  they  had 
been  "  married,"  in  accordance  with  the  custom  which  couples 
a  driver  with  a  gunner,  they  had  lived  happily  together,  with 
the  one  exception  of  meal-times.  Louis,  an  intelligent  man 


THE  DOWNFALL  83 

and  the  better  informed  of  the  two,  did  not  grumble  at  the  airs 
of  superiority  that  are  affected  by  every  mounted  over  every 
unmounted  man  :  he  pitched  the  tent,  made  the  soup,  and  did 
the  chores,  while  Adolphe  groomed  his  horses  with  the  pride 
of  a  reigning  potentate.  When  the  former,  a  little  black,  lean 
man,  afflicted  with  an  enormous  appetite,  rose  in  arms  against 
the  exactions  of  the  latter,  a  big,  burly  fellow  with  huge  blonde 
mustaches,  who  insisted  on  being  waited  on  like  a  lord,  then 
the  fun  began.  The  subject  matter  of  the  dispute  on  the 
present  morning  was  that  Louis,  who  had  made  the  coffee, 
accused  Adolphe  of  having  drunk  it  all.  It  required  some 
diplomacy  to  reconcile  them. 

Not  a  morning  passed  that  Honore  failed  to  go  and  look  after 
his  piece,  seeing  to  it  that  it  was  carefully  dried  and  cleansed 
from  the  night  dew,  as  if  it  had  been  a  favorite  animal  that 
he  was  fearful  might  take  cold,  and  there  it  was  that  Maurice 
found  him,  exercising  his  paternal  supervision  in  the  crisp 
morning  air. 

"  Ah,  it's  you  !  I  knew  that  the  io6th  was  somewhere  in  the 
vicinity  ;  I  got  a  letter  from  Remilly  yesterday  and  was  in- 
tending to  start  out  and  hunt  you  up.  Let's  go  and  have  a 
glass  of  wjiite  wine." 

For  the  sake  of  privacy  he  conducted  his  cousin  to  the 
little  farmhouse  that  the  soldiers  had  looted  the  day  before, 
where  the  old  peasant,  undeterred  by  his  losses  and  allured 
by  the  prospect  of  turning  an  honest  penny,  had  tapped  a 
cask  of  wine  and  set  up  a  kind  of  public  bar.  He  had  ex- 
temporized a  counter  from  a  board  rested  on  two  empty 
barrels  before  the  door  of  his  house,  and  over  it  he  dealt  out 
his  stock  in  trade  at  four  sous  a  glass,  assisted  by  the  strapping 
young  Alsatian  whom  he  had  taken  into  his  service  three  days 
before. 

As  Honore  was  touching  glasses  with  Maurice  his  eyes 
lighted  on  this  man.  He  gazed  at  him  a  moment  as  if  stupe- 
fied, then  let  slip  a  terrible  oath. 

"  Tonnerrt  de  Dieu  !     Goliah  !  " 

And  he  darted  forward  and  would  have  caught  him  by  the 
throat,  but  the  peasant,  foreseeing  in  his  action  a  repetition  of 
his  yesterday's  experience,  jumped  quickly  within  the  house 
and  locked  the  door  behind  him.  For  a  moment  confusion 
reigned  about  the  premises  ;  soldiers  came  rushing  up  to  see 
what  was  going  on,  while  the  quartermaster-sergeant  shouted 
at  the  top  of  his  voice  : 


84  THE  DOWNFALL 

"  Open  the  door,  open  the  door,  you  confounded  idiot !  It 
is  a  spy,  I  tell  you,  a  Prussian  spy  ! " 

Maurice  doubted  no  longer  ;  there  was  no  room  for  mistake 
now  ;  the  Alsatian  was  certainly  the  man  whom  he  had  seen 
arrested  at  the  camp  of  Mtilhausen  and  released  because  there 
was  not  evidence  enough  to  hold  him,  and  that  man  was 
Goliah,  old  Fouchard's  quondam  assistant  on  his  farm  at 
Remilly.  When  finally  the  peasant  opened  his  door  the  house 
was  searched  from  top  to  bottom,  but  to  no  purpose  ;  the 
bird  had  flown,  the  gawky  Alsatian,  the  tow-headed,  simple- 
faced  lout  whom  General  Bourgain-Desfeuilles  had  questioned 
the  day  before  at  dinner  without  learning  anything  and  before 
whom,  in  the  innocence  of  his  heart,  he  had  disclosed  things 
that  would  have  better  been  kept  secret.  It  was  evident 
enough  that  the  scamp  had  made  his  escape  by  a  back  window 
which  was  found  open,  but  the  hunt  that  was  immediately 
started  throughout  the  village  and  its  environs  had  no  results  ; 
the  fellow,  big  as  he  was,  had  vanished  as  utterly  as  a  smoke- 
wreath  dissolves  upon  the  air. 

Maurice  thought  it  best  to  take  Honore"  away,  lest  in  his 
distracted  state  he  might  reveal  to  the  spectators  unpleasant 
family  secrets  which  they  had  no  concern  to  know. 

"Tonnere  de  Dieu!"  he  cried  again,  "it  would  have  done 
me  such  good  to  strangle  him ! — The  letter  that  I  was 
speaking  of  revived  all  my  old  hatred  for  him." 

And  the  two  of  them  sat  down  upon  the  ground  against  a 
stack  of  rye  a  little  way  from  the  house,  and  he  handed  the 
letter  to  his  cousin. 

It  was  the  old  story  :  the  course  of  Honore  Fouchard's 
and  Silvine  Morange's  love  had  not  run  smooth.  She,  a 
pretty,  meek-eyed,  brown-haired  girl,  had  in  early  childhood 
lost  her  mother,  an  operative  in  one  of  the  factories  of  Rau- 
court,  and  Doctor  Dalichamp,  her  godfather,  a  worthy  man 
who  was  greatly  addicted  to  adopting  the  wretched  little  beings 
whom  he  ushered  into  the  world,  had  conceived  the  idea  of 
placing  her  in  Father  Fouchard's  family  as  small  maid  of  all 
work.  True  it  was  that  the  old  boor  was  a  terrible  skinflint 
and  a  harsh,  stern  taskmaster  ;  he  had  gone  into  the  butcher- 
ing business  from  sordid  love  of  lucre,  and  his  cart  was  to  be 
seen  daily,  rain  or  shine,  on  the  roads  of  twenty  communes  ; 
but  if  the  child  was  willing  to  work  she  would  have  a  home 
and  a  protector,  perhaps  some  small  prospect  in  the  future.  At 
all  events  she  would  be  spared  the  contamination  of  the  factory. 


THE  DOWNFALL  85 

And  naturally  enough  it  came  to  pass  that  in  old  Fouchard's 
household  the  son  and  heir  and  the  little  maid  of  ail  work  fell 
in  love  with  each  other.  Honore  was  then  just  turned  six- 
teen and  she  was  twelve,  and  when  she  was  sixteen  and  he 
twenty  there  was  a  drawing  for  the  army ;  Honore,  to  his 
great  delight,  secured  a  lucky  number  and  determined  to 
marry.  Nothing  had  ever  passed  between  them,  thanks  to 
the  unusual  delicacy  that  was  inherent  in  the  lad's  tranquil, 
thoughtful  nature,  more  than  an  occasional  hug  and  a  furtive 
kiss  in  the  barn.  But  when  he  spoke  of  the  marriage  to  his 
father,  the  old  man,  who  had  the  stubbornness  of  the  mule,  an- 
grily told  him  that  his  son  might  kill  him,  but  never,  never  would 
he  consent,  and  continued  to  keep  the  girl  about  the  house,  not 
worrying  about  the  matter,  expecting  it  would  soon  blow  over. 
For  two  years  longer  the  young  folks  kept  on  adoring  and 
desiring  each  other,  and  never  the  least  breath  of  scandal 
sullied  their  names.  Then  one  day  there  was  a  frightful 
quarrel  between  the  two  men,  after  which  the  young  man,  feeling 
he  could  no  longer  endure  his  father's  tyranny,  enlisted  and  was 
packed  off  to  Africa,while  the  butcher  still  retained  the  servant- 
maid,  because  she  was  useful  to  him.  Soon  after  that  a  terrible 
thing  happened  :  Silvine,  who  had  sworn  that  she  would  be 
true  to  her  lover  and  await  his  return,  was  detected  one  day, 
two  short  weeks  after  his  departure,  in  the  company  of  a 
laborer  who  had  been  working  on  the  farm  for  some  months 
past,  that  Goliah  Steinberg,  the  Prussian,  as  he  was  called  ;  a 
tall,  simple  young  fellow  with  short,  light  hair,  wearing  a  per- 
petual smile  on  his  broad,  pink  face,  who  had  made  himself 
Honore's  chum.  Had  Father  Fouchard  traitorously  incited 
the  man  to  take  advantage  of  the  girl  ?  or  had  Silvine,  sick  at 
heart  and  prostrated  by  the  sorrow  of  parting  with  her  lover, 
yielded  in  a  moment  of  unconsciousness?  She  could  not  tell 
herself ;  was  dazed,  and  saw  herself  driven  by  the  necessity  of 
her  situation  to  a  marriage  with  Goliah.  He,  for  his  part, 
always  with  the  everlasting  smile  on  his  face,  made  no  objec- 
tion, only  insisted  on  deferring  the  ceremony  until  the  child 
should  be  born.  When  that  event  occurred  he  suddenly  dis- 
appeared ;  it  was  rumored  subsequently  that  he  had  found 
work  on  another  farm,  over  Beaumont  way.  These  things  had 
happened  three  years  before  the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  and 
now  everyone  was  convinced  that  that  artless,  simple  Goliah, 
who  had  such  a  way  of  ingratiating  himself  with  the  girls,  was 
none  else  than  one  of  those  Prussian  spies  who  filled  our 


86  THE  DOWNFALL 

eastern  provinces.  When  Honore  learned  the  tidings  over  in 
Africa  he  was  three  months  in  hospital,  as  if  the  fierce  sun  of 
that  country  had  smitten  him  on  the  neck  with  one  of  his  fiery 
javelins,  and  never  thereafter  did  he  apply  for  leave  of  absence 
to  return  to  his  country  for  fear  lest  he  might  again  set  eyes 
on  Silvine  and  her  child. 

The  artilleryman's  hands  shook  with  agitation  as  Maurice 
perused  the  letter.  It  was  from  Silvine,  the  first,  the  only  one 
that  she  had  ever  written  him.  What  had  been  her  guiding 
impulse,  that  silent,  submissive  woman,  whose  handsome  black 
eyes  at  times  manifested  a  startling  fixedness  of  purpose  in  the 
midst  of  her  never-ending  slavery  ?  She  simply  said  that  she 
knew  he  was  with  the  army,  and  though  she  might  never  see 
him  again,  she  could  not  endure  the  thought  that  he  might 
die  and  believe  that  she  had  ceased  to  love  him.  She  loved 
him  still,  had  never  loved  another  ;  and  this  she  repeated 
again  and  again  through  four  closely  written  pages,  in  words 
of  unvarying  import,  without  the  slightest  word  of  excuse  for 
herself,  without  even  attempting  to  explain  what  had  happened. 
There  was  no  mention  of  the  child,  nothing  but  an  infinitely 
mournful  and  tender  farewell. 

The  letter  produced  a  profound  impression  upon  Maurice, 
to  whom  his  cousin  had  once  imparted  the  whole  story.  He 
raised  his  eyes  and  saw  that  Honore  was  weeping ;  he  em- 
braced him  like  a  brother. 

"  My  poor  Honore." 

But  the  sergeant  quickly  got  the  better  of  his  emotion.  He 
carefully  restored  the  letter  to  its  place  over  his  heart  and 
rebuttoned  his  jacket. 

"  Yes,  those  are  things  that  a  man  does  not  forget.  Ah  ! 
the  scoundrel,  if  I  could  but  have  laid  hands  on  him  !  But 
we  shall  see." 

The  bugles  were  sounding  the  signal  to  prepare  for  break- 
ing camp,  and  each  had  to  hurry  away  to  rejoin  his  command. 
The  preparations  for  departure  dragged,  however,  and  the 
troops  had  to  stand  waiting  in  heavy  marching  order  until 
nearly  nine  o'clock.  A  feeling  of  hesitancy  seemed  to  have 
taken  possession  of  their  leaders  ;  there  was  not  the  resolute 
alacrity  of  the  first  two  days,  when  the  yth  corps  had  accom- 
plished forty  miles  in  two  marches.  Strange  and  alarming 
news,  moreover,  had  been  circulating  through  the  camp  since 
morning,  that  the  three  other  corps  were  marching  northward, 
the  ist  at  Juniville,  the  5th  and  i2th  at  Rethel,  and  this 


THE'  DO  IVNFA  LL  «7 

deviation  from  their  routx  was  accounted  for  on  the  ground  of 
the  necessities  of  the  commissariat.  Montmedy  had  ceased 
to  be  their  objective,  then?  why  were  they  thus  idling  away 
their  time  again  ?  What  was  most  alarming  of  all  was  that 
the  Prussians  could  not  now  be  far  away,  for  the  officers  had 
cautioned  their  men  not  to  fall  behind  the  column,  as  all  strag- 
glers were  liable  to  be  picked  up  by  the  enemy's  light  cavalry. 

It  was  the  25th  of  August,  and  Maurice,  when  he  subse- 
quently recalled  to  mind  Goliah's  disappearance,  was  certain 
that  the  man  had  been  instrumental  in  affording  the  German 
staff  exact  information  as  to  the  movements  of  the  army  of 
Chalons,  and  thus  producing  the  change  of  front  of  their  third 
army.  The  succeeding  morning  the  Crown  Prince  of  Prussia 
left  Revigny  and  the  great  maneuver  was  initiated,  that  gigantic 
movement  by  the  flank,  surrounding  and  enmeshing  us  by  a 
series  of  forced  marches  conducted  in  the  most  admirable 
order  through  Champagne  and  the  Ardennes.  While  the 
French  were  stumbling  aimlessly  about  the  country,  oscillating 
uncertainly  between  one  place  and  another,  the  Prussians 
were  making  their  twenty  miles  a  day  and  more,  gradually 
contracting  their  immense  circle  of  beaters  upon  the  band  of 
men  whom  they  held  within  their  toils,  and  driving  their  prey 
onward  toward  the  forests  of  the  frontier. 

A  start  was  finally  made,  and  the  result  of  the  day's  move- 
ment showed  that  the  army  was  pivoting  on  its  left ;  the  yth 
corps  only  traversed  the  two  short  leagues  between  Con- 
treuve  and  Vouziers,  while  the  5th  and  i2th  corps  did  not  stir 
from  Rethel,  and  the  ist  went  no  farther  than  Attigny. 
Between  Contreuve  and  the  valley  of  the  Aisne  the  country 
became  level  again  and  was  more  bare  than  ever;  as  they 
drew  near  to  Vouziers  the  road  wound  among  desolate  hills 
and  naked  gray  fields,  without  a  tree,  without  a  house,  as 
gloomy  and  forbidding  as  a  desert,  and  the  day's  march, 
short  as  it  was,  was  accomplished  with  such  fatigue  and  dis- 
tress that  it  seemed  interminably  long.  Soon  after  midday, 
however,  the  ist  and  3d  divisions  had  passed  through  the 
city  and  encamped  in  the  meadows  on  the  farther  bank  of  the 
Aisne,  while  a  brigade  of  the  second,  which  included  the 
io6th,  had  remained  upon  the  left  bank,  bivouacking  among 
the  waste  lands  of  which  the  low  foot-hills  overlooked  the 
valley,  observing  from  their  position  the  Monthois  road, 
which  skirts  the  stream  and  by  which  the  enemy  was  expected 
to  make  his  appearance. 


88  THE  DOWNFALL 

And  Maurice  was  dumfoundered  tc  behold  advancing  along 
that  Monthois  road  Margueritte's  entire  division,  the  body  of 
cavalry  to  which  had  been  assigned  the  duty  of  supporting  the 
yth  corps  and  watching  the  left  flank  of  the  army.  The 
report  was  that  it  was  on  its  way  to  Chene-Populeux.  Why 
was  the  left  wing,  where  alone  they  were  threatened  by  the 
enemy,  stripped  in  that  manner  ?  What  sense  was  there  in 
summoning  in  upon  the  center,  where  they  could  be  of  no 
earthly  use,  those  two  thousand  horsemen,  who  should  have 
been  dispersed  upon  our  flank,  leagues  away,  as  videttes  to 
observe  the  enemy  ?  And  what  made  matters  worse  was  that 
they  caused  the  greatest  confusion  among  the  columns  of  the 
7th  corps,  cutting  in  upon  their  line  of  march  and  producing 
an  inextricable  jam  of  horses,  guns,  and  men.  A  squadron  of 
chasseurs  d'Afrique  were  halted  for  near  two  hours  at  the  gate 
of  Vouziers,  and  by  the  merest  chance  Maurice  stumbled  on 
Prosper,  who  had  ridden  his  horse  down  to  the  bank  of  a 
neighboring  pond  to  let  him  drink,  and  the  two  men  were 
enabled  to  exchange  a  few  words.  The  chasseur  appeared 
stunned,  dazed,  knew  nothing  and  had  seen  nothing  since  they 
left  Rheims  ;  yes,  though,  he  had  :  he  had  seen  two  uhlans 
more  ;  oh  !  but  they  were  will  o'  the  wisps,  phantoms,  they 
were,  that  appeared  and  vanished,  and  no  one  could  tell 
whence  they  came  nor  whither  they  went.  Their  fame  had 
spread,  and  stories  of  them  were  already  rife  throughout  the 
country,  such,  for  instance,  as  that  of  four  uhlans  galloping 
into  a  town  with  drawn  revolvers  and  taking  possession  of  it, 
when  the  corps  to  which  they  belonged  was  a  dozen  miles  away. 
They  were  everywhere,  preceding  the  columns  like  a  buzzing, 
stinging  swarm  of  bees,  a  living  curtain,  behind  which  the  in- 
fantry could  mask  their  movements  and  march  and  counter- 
march  as  securely  as  if  they  were  at  home  upon  parade.  And 
Maurice's  heart  sank  in  his  bosom  as  he  looked  at  the  road, 
crowded  with  chasseurs  and  hussars  which  our  leaders  put  to 
such  poor  use. 

"  Well,  then,  au  revoir"  said  he,  shaking  Prosper  by  the 
hand  ;  "  perhaps  they  will  find  something  for  you  to  do  down 
yonder,  after  all." 

But  the  chasseur  appeared  disgusted  with  the  task  assigned 
him.  He  sadly  stroked  Poulet's  neck  and  answered  : 

"  Ah,  what's  the  use  talking!  they  kilt  our  horses  and  let  us 
rot  in  idleness.  It  is  sickening." 

When  Maurice  took  off  his  shoe  that  evening  to  have  a  look 


THE  DOWNFALL  89 

at  his  foot,  which  was  aching  and  throbbing  feverishly,  the 
skin  came  with  it  ;  the  blood  spurted  forth  and  he  uttered  a 
cry  of  pain.  Jean  was  standing  by,  and  exhibited  much  pity 
and  concern. 

"  Look  here,  that  is  becoming  serious  ;  you  are  going  to  lie 
right  down  and  not  attempt  to  move.  That  foot  of  yours 
must  be  attended  to.  Let  me  see  it." 

He  knelt  down,  washed  the  sore  with  his  own  hands  and 
bound  it  up  with  some  clean  linen  that  he  took  from  his  knap- 
sack. He  displayed  the  gentleness  of  a  woman  and  the  deft- 
ness of  a  surgeon,  whose  big  fingers  can  be  so  pliant  when 
necessity  requires  it. 

A  great  wave  of  tenderness  swept  over  Maurice,  his  eyes 
were  dimmed  with  tears,  the  familiar  thou  rose  from  his  heart 
to  his  lips  with  an  irresistible  impulse  of  affection,  as  if  in  that 
peasant  whom  he  once  had  hated  and  abhorred,  whom  only 
yesterday  he  had  despised,  he  had  discovered  a  long  lost 
brother. 

"  Thou  art  a  good  fellow,  thou  !     Thanks,  good  friend." 

And  Jean,  too,  looking  very  happy,  dropped  into  the  second 
person  singular,  with  his  tranquil  smile. 

"  Now,  my  little  one,  wilt  thou  have  a  cigarette  ?  I  have 
some  tobacco  left." 

V. 

9N  the  morning  of  the  following  day,  the  26th,  Maurice 
arose  with  stiffened  limbs  and  an  aching  back,  the  result 
his  night  under  the  tent.  He  was  not  accustomed  yet 
to  sleeping  on  the  bare  ground  ;  orders  had  been  given  before 
the  men  turned  in  that  they  were  not  to  remove  their  shoes, 
and  during  the  night  the  sergeants  had  gone  the  rounds,  feel- 
ing in  the  darkness  to  see  if  all  were  properly  shod  and 
gaitered,  so  that  his  foot  was  much  inflamed  and  very  painful. 
In  addition  to  his  other  troubles  he  had  imprudently  stretched 
his  legs  outside  the  canvas  to  relieve  their  cramped  feeling 
and  taken  cold  in  them. 

Jean  said  as  soon  as  he  set  eyes  on  him  : 

"  If  we  are  to  do  any  marching  to-day,  my  lad,  you  had 
better  see  the  surgeon  and  get  him  to  give  you  a  place  in  one 
of  the  wagons." 

But  no  one  seemed  to  know  what  were  the  plans  for  the  day, 
and  the  most  conflicting  reports  prevailed.  It  appeared  for  a 


9°  THE    DOWNFALL 

moment  as  if  they  were  about  to  resume  their  march  ;  the 
tents  were  struck  and  the  entire  corps  took  the  road  and  passed 
through  Vouziers,  leaving  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Aisne  only 
one  brigade  of  the  second  division,  apparently  to  continue  the 
observation  of  the  Monthois  road  ;  but  all  at  once,  as  soon  as 
they  had  put  the  town  behind  them  and  were  on  the  left  bank 
of  the  stream,  they  halted  and  stacked  muskets  in  the  fields  and 
meadows  that  skirt  the  Grand-Pre  road  on  either  hand,  and 
the  departure  of  the  4th  hussars,  who  just  then  moved  off  on 
that  road  at  a  sharp  trot,  afforded  fresh  food  for  conjecture. 

"  If  we  are  to  remain  here  I  shall  stay  with  you,"  declared 
Maurice,  who  was  not  attracted  by  the  prospect  of  riding  in 
an  ambulance. 

It  soon  became  known  that  they  were  to  occupy  their  pres- 
ent camp  until  General  Douay  could  obtain  definite  informa- 
tion as  to  the  movements  of  the  enemy.  The  general  had  been 
harassed  by  an  intense  and  constantly  increasing  anxiety  since 
the  day  before,  when  he  had  seen  Margueritte's  division  mov- 
ing toward  Chene,  for  he  knew  that  his  flank  was  uncovered, 
that  there  was  not  a  man  to  watch  the  passes  of  the  Argon ne, 
and  that  he  was  liable  to  be  attacked  at  any  moment.  There- 
fore he  had  sent  out  the  4th  hussars  to  reconnoiter  the 
country  as  far  as  the  defiles  of  Grand-Pre  and  Croix-aux-Bois, 
with  strict  orders  not  to  return  without  intelligence. 

There  had  been  an  issue  of  bread,  meat,  and  forage  the  day 
before,  thanks  to  the  efficient  mayor  of  Vouziers.  and  about 
ten  o'clock  that  morning  permission  had  been  granted  the  men 
to  make  soup,  in  the  fear  that  they  might  not  soon  again  have 
so  good  an  opportunity,  when  another  movement  of  troops, 
the  departure  of  Bordas'  brigade  over  the  road  taken  by  the 
hussars,  set  all  tongues  wagging  afresh.  What  !  were  they 
going  to  march  again  ?  were  they  not  to  be  given  a  chance  to 
eat  their  breakfast  in  peace,  now  that  the  kettle  was  on  the 
fire  ?  But  the  officers  explained  that  Bordas'  brigade  had  only 
been  sent  to  occupy  Buzancy,  a  few  kilometers  from  there. 
There  were  others,  indeed,  who  asserted  that  the  hussars  had 
encountered  a  strong  force  of  the  enemy's  cavalry  and  that 
the  brigade  had  been  dispatched  to  help  them  out  of  their 
difficulty. 

Maurice  enjoyed  a  few  hours  of  delicious  repose.  He  had 
thrown  himself  on  the  ground  in  a  field  half  way  up  the  hill 
where  the  regiment  had  halted,  and  in  a  drowsy  state  between 
sleeping  and  waking  was  contemplating  the  verdant  valley  of 


THE  DOWNFALL  91. 

the  Aisne,  the  smiling  meadows  dotted  with  clumps  of  trees, 
among  which  the  little  stream  wound  lazily.  Before  him  and 
closing  the  valley  in  that  direction  lay  Vouziers,  an  amphi- 
theater of  roofs  rising  one  above  another  and  overtopped  by 
the  church  with  its  slender  spire  and  dome-crowned  tower. 
Below  him,  near  the  bridge,  smoke  was  curling  upward  from 
the  tali  chimneys  of  the  tanneries,  while  farther  away  a  great 
mill  displayed  its  flour-whitened  buildings  among  the  fresh 
verdure  of  the  growths  that  lined  the  waterside.  The  little 
town  that  lay  there,  bounding  his  horizon,  hidden  among  the 
stately  trees,  appeared  to  him  to  possess  a  gentle  charm  ;  it 
brought  him  memories  of  boyhood,  of  the  journeys  that  he  had 
made  to  Vouziers  in  other  days,  when  he  had  lived  at  Chene, 
the  village  where  he  was  born.  For  an  hour  he  was  oblivious 
of  the  outer  world. 

The  soup  had  long  since  been  made  and  eaten  and  every- 
one was  waiting  to  see  what  would  happen  next,  when,  about 
half-past  two  o'clock,  the  smoldering  excitement  began  to  gain 
strength,  and  soon  pervaded  the  entire  camp.  Hurried  or- 
ders came  to  abandon  the  meadows,  and  the  troops  ascended 
a  line  of  hills  between  two  villages,  Chestres  and  Falaise,  some 
two  or  three  miles  apart,  and  took  position  there.  Already 
the  engineers  were  at  work  digging  rifle-pits  and  throwing 
up  epaulements  ;  while  over  to  the  left  the  artillery  had  occu- 
pied the  summit  of  a  rounded  eminence.  The  rumor  spread 
that  General  Bordas  had  sent  in  a  courier  to  announce  that  he 
had  encountered  the  enemy  in  force  at  Grand-Pre  and  had 
been  compelled  to  fall  back  on  Buzancy,  which  gave  cause 
to  apprehend  that  he  might  soon  be  cut  off  from  retreat  on 
Vouziers.  For  these  reasons,  the  commander  of  the  7th 
corps,  believing  an  attack  to  be  imminent,  had  placed  his  men 
in  position  to  sustain  the  first  onset  until  the  remainder  of  the 
army  should  have  time  to  come  to  his  assistance,  and  had 
started  off  one  of  his  aides-de-camp  with  a  letter  to  the  mar- 
shal, apprising  him  of  the  danger,  and  asking  him  for  re-en- 
forcements. Fearing  for  the  safety  of  the  subsistence  train, 
which  had  come  up  with  the  corps  during  the  night  and  was 
again  dragging  its  interminable  length  in  the  rear,  he  sum- 
marily sent  it  to  the  right  about  and  directed  it  to  make  the 
best  of  its  way  to  Chagny.  Things  were  beginning  to  look 
like  fight. 

"  So,  it  looks  like  business  this  time — eh,  Lieutenant  ?  " 
Maurice  ventured  to  ask  Rochas. 


92  THE  DOWNFALL 

"  Yes,  thank  goodness,"  replied  the  Lieutenant,  his  long 
arms  going  like  windmills.  "  Wait  a  little  ;  you'll  find  it  warm 
enough  !  " 

The  soldiers  were  all  delighted  ;  the  animation  in  the  camp 
was  still  more  pronounced.  A  feverish  impatience  had  taken 
possession  of  the  men,  now  that  they  were  actually  in  line  of 
battle  between  Chestres  and  Falaise.  At  last  they  were  to 
have  a  sight  of  those  Prussians  who,  if  the  newspapers  were 
to  be  believed,  were  knocked  up  by  their  long  marches,  deci- 
mated by  sickness,  starving,  and  in  rags,  and  every  man's 
heart  beat  high  with  the  prospect  of  annihilating  them  at  a 
single  blow. 

"  We  are  lucky  to  come  across  them  again,"  said  Jean. 
"  They've  been  playing  hide-and-seek  about  long  enough 
since  they  slipped  through  our  fingers  after  their  battle  down 
yonder  on  the  frontier.  But  are  these  the  same  troops  that 
whipped  MacMahon,  I  wonder?" 

Maurice  could  not  answer  his  question  with  any  degree  of 
certainty.  It  seemed  to  him  hardly  probable,  in  view  of  what 
he  had  read  in  the  newspapers  at  Rheims,  that  the  third 
army,  commanded  by  the  Crown  Prince  of  Prussia,  could  be 
at  Vouziers,  when,  only  two  days  before,  it  was  just  on  the 
point  of  going  into  camp  at  Vitry-le-Francois.  There  had 
been  some  talk  of  a  fourth  army,  under  the  Prince  of  Saxony, 
which  was  to  operate  on  the  line  of  the  Meuse  ;  this  was 
doubtless  the  one  that  was  now  before  them,  although  their 
promptitude  in  occupying  Grand-Pre  was  a  matter  of  surprise, 
considering  the  distances.  But  what  put  the  finishing  touch 
to  the  confusion  of  his  ideas  was  his  stupefaction  to  hear  Gen- 
eral Bourgain-Desfeuilles  ask  a  countryman  if  the  Meuse  did 
not  flow  past  Buzancy,  and  if  the  bridges  there  were  strong. 
The  general  announced,  moreover,  in  the  confidence  of  his 
sublime  ignorance,  that  a  column  of  one  hundred  thousand 
men  was  on  the  way  from  Grand-Pre  to  attack  them,  while 
another,  of  sixty  thousand,  was  coming  up  by  the  way  of 
Sainte-Menehould. 

"  How's  your  foot,  Maurice  ?"  asked  Jean. 

"  It  don't  hurt  now,"  the  other  laughingly  replied.  "  If 
there  is  to  be  a  fight,  I  think  it  will  be  quite  well." 

It  was  true  ;  his  nervous  excitement  was  so  great  that  he 
was  hardly  conscious  of  the  ground  on  which  he  trod.  To 
think  that  in  the  whole  campaign  he  had  not  yet  burned 
powder  !  He  had  gone  forth  to  the  frontier,  he  had  endured 


THE  DOWNFALL  93 

the  agony  of  that  terrible  night  of  expectation  before  Miil- 
hausen,  and  had  not  seen  a  Prussian,  had  not  fired  a  shot  ; 
then  he  had  retreated  with  the  rest  to  Belfort,  to  Rheims,  had 
now  been  marching  five  days  trying  to  find  the  enemy,  and 
his  useless  chassepot  was  as  clean  as  the  day  it  left  the  shop, 
without  the  least  smell  of  smoke  on  it.  He  felt  an  aching  de- 
sire to  discharge  his  piece  once,  if  no  more,  to  relieve  the  ten- 
sion of  his  nerves.  Since  the  day,  near  six  weeks  ago,  when 
he  had  enlisted  in  a  fit  of  enthusiasm,  supposing  that  he  would 
surely  have  to  face  the  foe  in  a  day  or  two,  all  that  he  had 
done  had  been  to  tramp  up  and  down  the  country  on  his  poor, 
sore  feet — the  feet  of  a  man  who  had  lived  in  luxury,  far  from 
the  battle-field  ;  and  so,  among  all  those  impatient  watchers, 
there  was  none  who  watched  more  impatiently  than  he  the 
Grand-Pre  road,  extending  straight  away  to  a  seemingly  in- 
finite distance  between  two  rows  of  handsome  trees.  Beneath 
him  was  unrolled  the  panorama  of  the  valley  ;  the  Aisne  was, 
like  a  silver  ribbon,  flowing  between  its  willows  and  poplars, 
and  ever  his  gaze  returned,  solicited  by  an  irresistible  attrac- 
tion, to  that  road  down  yonder  that  stretched  away,  far  as  the 
eye  could  see,  to  the  horizon. 

About  four  o'clock  the  4th  hussars  returned,  having  made 
a  wide  circuit  in  the  country  round  about,  and  stories,  which 
grew  as  they  were  repeated,  began  to  circulate  of  conflicts  with 
uhlans,  tending  to  confirm  the  confident  belief  which  every- 
one had  that  an  attack  was  imminent.  Two  hours  later  a 
courier  came  galloping  in,  breathless  with  terror,  to  announce 
that  General  Bordas  had  positive  information  that  the  enemy 
were  on  the  Vouziers  road,  and  dared  not  leave  Grand-Pre. 
It  was  evident  that  that  could  not  be  true,  since  the  courier 
had  just  passed  over  the  road  unharmed,  but  no  one  could  tell 
at  what  moment  it  might  be  the  case,  and  General  Dumont, 
commanding  the  division,  set  out  at  once  with  his  remaining 
brigade  to  bring  off  his  other  brigade  that  was  in  difficulty. 
The  sun  went  down  behind  Vouziers  and  the  roofs  of  the  town 
were  sharply  profiled  in  black  against  a  great  red  cloud.  For 
a  long  time  the  brigade  was  visible  as  it  receded  between  the 
double  row  of  trees,  until  finally  it  was  swallowed  up  in  the 
gathering  darkness. 

Colonel  de  Vineuil  came  to  look  after  his  regiment's  posi- 
tion for  the  night.  He  was  surprised  not  to  find  Captain 
Beaudoin  at  his  post,  and  as  that  officer  just  then  chanced  to 
come  in  from  Vouziers,  where  he  alleged  in  excuse  for  his 


94  THE  DOWNFALL 

absence  that  he  had  been  breakfasting  with  the  Baronne  de 
Ladicourt,  he  received  a  sharp  reprimand,  which  he  digested 
in  silence,  with  the  rigid  manner  of  a  martinet  conscious  of 
being  in  the  wrong. 

"  My  children,"  said  the  Colonel,  as  he  passed  along  the 
line  of  men,  "  we  shall  probably  be  attacked  to-night,  or  if  not, 
then  by  day-break  to-morrow  morning  at  the  latest.  Be  pre- 
pared, and  remember  that  the  io6th  has  never  retreated  before 
the  enemy." 

The  little  speech  was  received  with  loud  hurrahs  ;  everyone, 
in  the  prevailing  suspense  and  discouragement,  preferred  to 
"  take  the  wipe  of  the  dish-clout  "  and*  have  done  with  it. 
Rifles  were  examined  to  see  that  they  were  in  good  order,  belts 
were  refilled  with  cartridges.  As  they  had  eaten  their  soup 
that  morning,  the  men  were  obliged  to  content  themselves  with 
biscuits  and  coffee.  An  order  was  promulgated  that  there  was 
to  be  no  sleeping.  The  grand-guards  were  out  nearly  a  mile 
to  the  front,  and  a  chain  of  sentinels  at  frequent  intervals 
extended  down  to  the  Aisne.  The  officers  were  seated  in 
little  groups  about  the  camp-fires,  and  beside  a  low  wall  at  the 
left  of  the  road  the  fitful  blaze  occasionally  flared  up  and 
rescued  from  the  darkness  the  gold  embroideries  and  bedizened 
uniforms  of  the  Commander-in-Chief  and  his  staff,  flitting  to 
and  fro  like  phantoms,  watching  the  road  and  listening  for  the 
tramp  of  horses  in  the  mortal  anxiety  they  were  in  as  to  the 
fate  of  the  third  division. 

It  was  about  one  o'clock  in  the  morning  when  it  came 
Maurice's  turn  to  take  his  post  as  sentry  at  the  edge  of  an 
orchard  of  plum-trees,  between  the  road  and  the  river.  The 
night  was  black  as  ink.  and  as  soon  as  his  comrades  left  him 
and  he  found  himself  alone  in  the  deep  silence  of  the  sleeping 
fields  he  was  conscious  of  a  sensation  of  fear  creeping  over 
him,  a  feeling  of  abject  terror  such  as  he  had  never  known  before 
and  which  he  trembled  with  rage  and  shame  at  his  inability  to 
conquer.  He  turned  his  head  to  cheer  himself  by  a  sight  of 
the  camp-fires,  but  they  were  hidden  from  him  by  a  wood  ; 
there  was  naught  behind  him  but  an  unfathomable  sea  of 
blackness  ;  all  that  he  could  discern  was  a  few  distant  lights 
still  dimly  burning  in  Vouziers,  where  the  inhabitants,  doubt- 
less forewarned  and  trembling  at  the  thought  of  the  impending 
combat,  were  keeping  anxious  vigil.  His  terror  was  increased, 
if  that  were  possible,  on  bringing  his  piece  to  his  shoulder  to 
find  that  he  could  not  even  distinguish  the  sights  on  it.  Then 


THE    DOWNFALL  95 

commenced  a  period  of  suspense  that  tried  his  nerves  most 
cruelly  ;  every  faculty  of  his  being  was  strained  and  concen- 
trated in  the  one  sense  of  hearing;  sounds  so  faint  as  to  be 
imperceptible  reverberated  in  his  ears  like  the  crash  of  thunder  ; 
the  plash  of  a  distant  waterfall,  the  rustling  of  a  leaf,  the 
movement  of  an  insect  in  the  grass,  were  like  the  booming  of 
artillery.  Was  that  the  tramp  of  cavalry,  the  deep  rumbling 
of  gun-carriages  driven  at  speed,  that  he  heard  down  there  to 
the  right  ?  And  there  on  his  left,  what  was  that  ?  was  it  not 
the  sound  of  stealthy  whispers,  stifled  voices,  a  party  creeping 
up  to  surprise  him  under  cover  of  the  darkness  ?  Three  times 
he  was  on  the  point  of  giving  the  alarm  by  firing  his  piece. 
The  fear  that  he  might  be  mistaken  and  incur  the  ridicule  of 
his  comrades  served  to  intensify  his  distress.  He  had  kneeled 
upon  the  ground,  supporting  his  left  shoulder  against  a  tree  ; 
it  seemed  to  him  that  he  had  been  occupying  that  position  for 
hours,  that  they  had  forgotten  him  there,  that  the  army  had 
moved  away  without  him.  Then  suddenly,  at  once,  his  fear 
left  him  ;  upon  the  road,  that  he  knew  was  not  two  hundred 
yards  away,  he  distinctly  heard  the  cadenced  tramp  of  march- 
ing men.  Immediately  it  flashed  across  his  mind  as  a  certainty 
that  they  were  the  troops  from  Grand-Pre,  whose  coming  had 
been  awaited  with  such  anxiety—General  Dumont  bringing  in 
Bordas'  brigade.  At  that  same  moment  the  corporal  of  the 
guard  came  along  with  the  relief  ;  he  had  been  on  post  a  little 
less  than  the  customary  hour. 

He  had  been  right ;  it  was  the  3d  division  returning  to 
camp.  Everyone  felt  a  sensation  of  deep  relief.  Increased 
precautions  were  taken,  nevertheless,  for  what  fresh  intelli- 
gence they  received  tended  to  confirm  what  they  supposed 
they  already  knew  of  the  enemy's  approach.  A  few  uhlans, 
forbidding  looking  fellows  in  their  long  black  cloaks,' were 
brought  in  as  prisoners,  but  they  were  uncommunicative,  and 
so  daylight  came  at  last,  the  pale,  ghastly  light  of  a  rainy 
morning,  bringing  with  it  no  alleviation  of  their  terrible  sus- 
pense. No  one  had  dared  to  close  an  eye  during  that  long 
night.  About  seven  o'clock  Lieutenant  Rochas  affirmed  that 
MacMahon  was  coming  up  with  the  whole  army.  The  truth 
of  the  matter  was  that  General  Douay,  in  reply  to  his  dispatch 
of  the  preceding  day  announcing  that  a  battle  at  Vouziers  was 
inevitable,  had  received  a  letter  from  the  marshal  enjoining 
him  to  hold  the  position  until  re-enforcements  could  reach 
him  ;  the  forward  movement  had  been  arrested  ;  the  ist  corps 


96  THE  DOWNFALL 

was  being  directed  on  Terron,  the  5th  on  Buzancy,  while  the 
1 2th  was  to  remain  at  Chene  and  constitute  our  second  line. 
Then  the  suspense  became  more  breathless  still  ;  it  was  to  be 
no  mere  skirmish  that  the  peaceful  valley  of  the  Aisne  was  to 
witness  that  day,  but  a  great  battle,  in  which  would  partici- 
pate the  entire  army,  that  was  even  now  turning  its  back  upon 
the  Meuse  and  marching  southward  ;  and  there  was  no  making 
of  soup,  the  men  had  to  content  themselves  with  coffee  and 
hard-tack,  for  everyone  was  saying,  without  troubling  himself 
to  ask  why,  that  the  "  wipe  of  the  dish-clout  "  was  set  down  for 
midday.  An  aide-de-camp  had  been  dispatched  to  the  mar- 
shal to  urge  him  to  hurry  forward  their  supports,  as  intelli- 
gence received  from  every  quarter  made  it  more  and  more 
certain  that  the  two  Prussian  armies  were  close  at  hand,  and 
three  hours  later  still  another  officer  galloped  off  like  mad  to- 
ward Chene,  where  general  headquarters  were  located,  with  a 
request  for  instructions,  for  consternation  had  risen  to  a 
higher  pitch  then  ever  with  the  receipt  of  fresh  tidings  from 
the  maire  of  a  country  commune,  who  told  of  having  seen  a 
hundred  thousand  men  at  Grand-Pre*,  while  another  hundred 
thousand  were  advancing  by  way  of  Buzancy. 

Midday  came,  and  not  a  sign  of  the  Prussians.  At  one 
o'clock,  at  two,  it  was  the  same,  and  a  reaction  of  lassitude 
and  doubt  began  to  prevail  among  the  troops.  Derisive  jeers 
were  heard  at  the  expense  of  the  generals  :  perhaps  they  had 
seen  their  shadow  on  the  wall  ;  they  should  be  presented  with 
a  pair  of  spectacles.  A  pretty  set  of  humbugs  they  were,  to 
have  caused  all  that  trouble  for  nothing !  A  fellow  who 
passed  for  a  wit  among  his  comrades  shouted  : 
"  It  is  like  it  was  down  there  at  Miilhausen,  eh? " 
The  words  recalled  to  Maurice's  mind  a  flood  of  bitter 
memories.  He  thought  of  that  idiotic  flight,  that  panic  that 
had  swept  away  the  yth  corps  when  there  was  not  a  German 
visible,  nor  within  ten  leagues  of  where  they  were,  and  now  he 
had  a  distinct  certainty  that  they  were  to  have  a  renewal  of 
that  experience.  It  was  plain  that  if  twenty-four  hours  had 
elapsed  since  the  skirmish  at  Grand-Pre  and  they  had  not 
been  attacked,  the  reason  was  that  the  4th  hussars  had  merely 
struck  up  against  a  reconnoitering  body  of  cavalry  ;  the  main 
body  of  the  Prussians  must  be  far  away,  probably  a  day's 
march  or  two.  Then  the  thought  suddenly  struck  him  of 
the  time  they  had  wasted,  and  it  terrified  him  ;  in  three  days 
they  had  only  accomplished  the  distance  from  Contreuve  to 


THE  DOWNFALL  97 

Vouziers,  a  scant  two  leagues.  On  the  25th  the  other  corps, 
alleging  scarcity  of  supplies,  had  diverted  their  course  to  the 
north,  while  now,  on  the  27th,  here  they  were  coming  south- 
ward again  to  fight  a  battle  with  an  invisible  enemy.  Bordas' 
brigade  had  followed  the  4th  hussars  into  the  abandoned 
passes  of  the  Argonne,  and  was  supposed  to  have  got  itself  in- 
to trouble  ;  the  division  had  gone  to  its  assistance,  and  that 
had  been  succeeded  by  the  corps,  and  that  by  the  entire  army, 
and  all  those  movements  had  amounted  to  nothing.  Maurice 
trembled  as  he  reflected  how  pricelessly  valuable  was  every 
hour,  every  minute,  in  that  mad  project  of  joining  forces  with 
Bazaine,  a  project  that  could  be  carried  to  a  successful  issue 
only  by  an  officer  of  genius,  with  seasoned  troops  under  him, 
who  should  press  forward  to  his  end  with  the  resistless  energy 
of  a  whirlwind,  crushing  every  obstacle  that  lay  in  his  path. 

"  It  is  all  up  with  us  ! "  said  he,  as  the  whole  truth  flashed 
through  his  mind,  to  Jean,  who  had  given  way  to  despair. 
Then  as  the  corporal,  failing  to  catch  his  meaning,  looked  at 
him  wonderingly,  he  went  on  in  an  undertone,  for  his  friend's 
ear  alone,  to  speak  of  their  commanders  : 

"  They  mean  well,  but  they  have  no  sense,  that's  certain— 
and  no  luck  !  They  know  nothing  ;  they  foresee  nothing  ;  they 
have  neither  plans  nor  ideas,  nor  happy  intuitions.  Allans  / 
everything  is  against  us  ;  it  is  all  up  !  " 

And  by  slow  degrees  that  same  feeling  of  discouragement 
that  Maurice  had  arrived  at  by  a  process  of  reasoning  settled 
down  upon  the  denser  intellects  of  the  troops  who  lay  there 
inactive,  anxiously  awaiting  to  see  what  the  end  would  be. 
Distrust,  as  a  result  of  their  truer  perception  of  the  position 
they  were  in,  was  obscurely  burrowing  in  those  darkened 
minds,  and  there  was  no  man  so  ignorant  as  not  to  feel  a  sense 
of  injury  at  the  ignorance  and  irresolution  of  their  leaders, 
although  he  might  not  have  been  able  to  express  in  distinct 
terms  the  causes  of  his  exasperation.  In  the  name  of  Heaven, 
what  were  they  doing  there,  since  the  Prussians  had  not  shown 
themselves  ?  either  let  them  fight  and  have  it  over  with,  or 
else  go  off  to  some  place  where  they  could  get  some  sleep  ; 
they  had  had  enough  of  that  kind  of  work.  Since  the  depart- 
ure of  the  second  aide-de-camp,  who  had  been  dispatched  in 
quest  of  orders,  this  feeling  of  unrest  had  been  increasing  mo- 
mently ;  men  collected  in  groups,  talking  loudly  and  discuss- 
ing the  situation  pro  and  con,  and  the  general  inquietude 
communicating  itself  to  the  officers,  they  knew  not  what  an 


98  THE  DOWNFALL 

svver  to  make  to  those  of  their  men  who  ventured  to  question 
them.  They  ought  to  be  marching,  it  would  not  answer  to 
dawdle  thus  ;  and  so,  when  it  became  known  about  five  o'clock 
that  the  aide-de-camp  had  returned  and  that  they  were  to  re- 
treat, there  was  a  sigh  of  relief  throughout  the  camp  and  every 
heart  was  lighter. 

It  seemed  that  the  wiser  counsel  was  to  prevail,  then,  after 
all  !  The  Emperor  and  MacMahon  had  never  looked  with 
favor  on  the  movement  toward  Montmedy,  and  now,  alarmed 
to  learn  that  they  were  again  out-marched  and  out-maneuvered, 
and  that  they  were  to  have  the  army  of  the  Prince  of  Saxony 
as  well  as  that  of  the  Crown  Prince  to  contend  with,  they  had 
renounced  the  hazardous  scheme  of  uniting  their  forces  with 
Bazaine,  and  would  retreat  through  the  northern  strongholds 
with  a  view  to  falling  back  ultimately  on  Paris.  The  yth 
corps'  destination  would  be  Chagny,  by  way  of  Chene,  while 
the  5th  corps  would  be  directed  on  Poix,  and  the  ist  and  i2th 
on  Vendresse.  But  why,  since  they  were  about  to  fall  back, 
had  they  advanced  to  the  line  of  the  Aisne  ?  Why  all  that  waste 
of  time  and  labor,  when  it  would  have  been  so  easy  and  so 
rational  to  move  straight  from  Rheims  and  occupy  the  strong 
positions  in  the  valley  of  the  Marne  ?  Was  there  no  guiding 
mind,  no  military  talent,  no  common  sense  ?  But  there  should 
be  no  more  questioning;  all  should  be  forgiven,  in  the  univer- 
sal joy  at  the  adoption  of  that  eminently  wise  counsel,  which 
was  the  only  means  at  their  command  of  extricating  themselves 
from  the  hornets'  nest  into  which  they  had  rushed  so  impru- 
dently. All,  officers  and  men,  felt  that  they  would  be  the 
stronger  for  the  retrograde  movement,  that  under  the  walls  of 
Paris  they  would  be  invincible,  and  that  there  it  was  that  the 
Prussians  would  sustain  their  inevitable  defeat.  But  Vouziers 
must  be  evacuated  before  daybreak,  and  they  must  be  well  on 
the  road  to  Chene  before  the  enemy  should  learn  of  the  move- 
ment, and  forthwith  the  camp  presented  a  scene  of  the  great- 
est animation  :  trumpets  sounding,  officers  hastening  to  and 
fro  with  orders,  while  the  baggage  and  quartermaster's  trains, 
in  order  not  to  encumber  the  rear-guard,  were  sent  forward  in 
advance. 

Maurice  was  delighted.  As  he  was  endeavoring  to  explain 
to  Jean  the  rationale  of  the  impending  movement,  however,  a 
cry  of  pain  escaped  him  ;  his  excitement  had  subsided,  and 
he  was  again  conscious  of  his  foot,  aching  and  burning  as  if  it 
had  been  a  ball  of  red-hot  metal. 


THE  DOWNFALL  99 

"  What's  the  matter  ?  is  it  hurting  you  again  ? "  the  cor- 
poral asked  sympathizingly.  And  with  his  calm  and  sensible 
resourcefulness  he  said:  "See  here,  little  one,  you  told  me 
yesterday  that  you  have  acquaintances  in  the  town,  yonder. 
You  ought  to  get  permission  from  the  major  and  find  some- 
one to  drive  you  over  to  Chene,  where  you  could  have  a  good 
night's  rest  in  a  comfortable  bed.  We  can  pick  you  up  as  we 
go  by  to-morrow  if  you  are  fit  to  march.  What  do  you  say 
to  that,  hein?" 

In  Falaise,  the  village  near  which  the  camp  was  pitched, 
Maurice  had  come  across  a  small  farmer,  an  old  friend  of  his 
father's,  who  was  about  to  drive  his  daughter  over  to  Chene  to 
visit  an  aunt  in  that  town,  and  the  horse  was  even  then  stand- 
ing waiting,  hitched  to  a  light  carriole.  The  prospect  was  far 
from  encouraging,  however,  when  he  broached  the  subject 
to  Major  Bouroche. 

"  I  have  a  sore  foot,  monsieur  the  doctor " 

Bouroche,  with  a  savage  shake  of  his  big  head  with  its  leo- 
nine mane,  turned  on  him  with  a  roar  : 

"  I  am  not  monsieur  the  doctor ;  who  taught  you  man- 
ners ?  " 

And  when  Maurice,  taken  all  aback,  made  a  stammering 
attempt  to  excuse  himself,  he  continued  : 

"  Address  me  as  major,  do  you  hear,  you  great  oaf  !  " 

He  must  have  seen  that  he  had  not  one  of  the  common  herd 
to  deal  with  and  felt  a  little  ashamed  of  himself ;  he  carried  it 
off  with  a  display  of  more  roughness. 

"  All  a  cock-and-bull  story,  that  sore  foot  of  yours  ! — Yes, 
yes  ;  you  may  go.  Go  in  a  carriage,  go  in  a  balloon,  if  you 
choose.  We  have  too  many  of  you  malingerers  in  the 
army  ! " 

When  Jean  assisted  Maurice  into  the  carriole  the  latter 
turned  to  thank  him,  whereon  the  two  men  fell  into  each 
other's  arms  and  embraced  as  if  they  were  never  to  meet 
again.  Who  could  tell,  amid  the  confusion  and  disorder  of 
the  retreat,  with  those  bloody  Prussians  on  their  track  ? 
Maurice  could  not  tell  how  it  was  that  there  was  already  such 
a  tender  affection  between  him  and  the  young  man,  and  twice 
he  turned  to  wave  him  a  farewell.  As  he  left  the  camp  they 
were  preparing  to  light  great  fires  in  order  to  mislead  the 
enemy  when  they  should  steal  away,  in  deepest  silence,  before 
the  dawn  of  day. 

As  they  jogged  along  the  farmer  bewailed  the  terrible  tim^s 


ioo  THE  JuOWNFALL 

through  which  they  were  passing.  He  had  lacked  the  courage 
to  remain  at  Falaise,  and  already  was  regretting-  that  he  had  left 
it,  declaring  that  if  the  Prussians  burned  his  house  it  would 
ruin  him.  His  daughter,  a  tall,  pale  young  woman,  wept 
copiously.  But  Maurice  was  like  a  dead  man  for  want  of 
sleep,  and  had  no  ears  for  the  farmer's  lamentations  ;  he 
slumbered  peacefully,  soothed  by  the  easy  motion  of  the 
vehicle,  which  the  little  horse  trundled  over  the  ground  at  such 
a  good  round  pace  that  it  took  them  less  than  an  hour  and  a 
half  to  accomplish  the  four  leagues  between  Vouziers  and 
Chene.  It  was  not  quite  seven  o'clock  and  scarcely  beginning 
to  be  dark  when  the  young  man  rubbed  his  eyes  and  alighted 
in  a  rather  dazed  condition  on  the  public  square,  near  the 
bridge  over  the  canal,  in  front  of  the  modest  house  where  he 
was  born  and  had  passed  twenty  years  of  his  life.  He  got 
down  there  in  obedience  to  an  involuntary  impulse,  although 
the  house  had  been  sold  eighteen  months  before  to  a  veterinary 
surgeon,  and  in  reply  to  the  farmer's  questions  said  that  he 
knew  quite  well  where  he  was  going,  adding  that  he  was  a 
thousand  times  obliged  to  him  for  his  kindness. 

He  continued  to  stand  stock-still,  however,  beside  the  well 
in  the  middle  of  the  little  triangular  place  ;  he  was  as  if 
stunned  ;  his  memory  was  a  blank.  Where  had  he  intended  to 
go  ?  and  suddenly  his  wits  returned  to  him  and  he  remembered 
that  it  was  to  the  notary's,  whose  house  was  next  door  to  his 
father's,  and  whose  mother,  Madame  Desvallieres,  an  aged  and 
most  excellent  lady,  had  petted  him  when  he  was  an  urchin  on 
account  of  their  being  neighbors.  But  he  hardly  recognized 
Chene  in  the  midst  of  the  hurly-burly  and  confusion  into  which 
the  little  town,  ordinarily  so  dead,  was  thrown  by  the  presence 
of  an  army  corps  encamped  at  its  gates  and  filling  its  quiet 
streets  with  officers,  couriers,  soldiers,  and  camp-followers  and 
stragglers  of  every  description.  The  canal  was  there  as  of  old, 
passing  through  the  town  from  end  to  end  and  bisecting  the 
market-place  in  the  center  into  two  equal-sized  triangles  con- 
nected by  a  narrow  stone  bridge;  and  there,  on  the  other  bank, 
was  the  old 'market  with  its  moss-grown  roofs,  and  the  Rue 
Berond  leading  away  to  the  left  and  the  Sedan  road  to  the 
right,  but  filling  the  Rue  de  Vouziers  in  front  of  him  and  ex- 
tending as  far  as  the  Hotel  de  Ville  was  such  a  compact, 
swarming,  buzzing  crowd  that  he  was  obliged  to  raise  his  eyes 
and  take  a  look  over  the  roof  of  the  notary's  house  at  the  slate- 
covered  bell  tower  in  order  to  assure  himself  that  that  was  the 


THE  DOIVNF.4I.-L  101 

quiet  spot  where  he  had  played  hop-scotch  when  he  was  a 
youngster.  There  seemed  to  be  an  effort  making  to  clear  the 
square  ;  some  men  were  roughly  crowding  back  the  throng  of 
idlers  and  gazers,  and  looking  more  closely  he  was  surprised 
to  see,  parked  like  the  guns  of  a  battery,  a  collection  of  vans, 
baggage- wagons,  and  carriages  open  and  closed  ;  a  miscella- 
neous assortment  of  traps  that  he  had  certainly  set  eyes  on 
before. 

It  was  daylight  still  ;  the  sun  had  just  sunk  in  the  canal  at 
the  point  where  it  vanished  in  the  horizon  and  the  long, 
straight  stretch  of  water  was  like  a  sea  of  blood,  and  Maurice 
was  trying  to  make  up  his  mind  what  to  do  when  a  woman  who 
stood  near  stared  at  him  a  moment  and  then  exclaimed: 

"  Why  goodness  gracious,  is  it  possible  !  Are  you  the  Le- 
vasseur  boy  ?" 

And  thereon  he  recognized  Madame  Combette,  the  wife  of 
the  druggist,  whose  shop  was  on  the  market-place.  As  he  was 
trying  to  explain  to  her  that  he  was  going  to  ask  good  Madame 
Desvallieres  to  give  him  a  bed  for  the  night  she  excitedly 
hurried  him  away. 

"  No,  no  ;  come  to  our  house.  I  will  tell  you  why — 
When  they  were  in  the  shop  and  she  had  cautiously  closed  the 
door  she  continued:  "  You  could  not  know,  my  dear  boy,  that 
the  Emperor  is  at  the  Desvallieres.'  His  officers  took  posses- 
sion of  the  house  in  his  name  and  the  family  are  not  any  too  well 
pleased  with  the  great  honor  done  them,  I  can  tell  you.  To 
think  that  the  poor  old  mother,  a  woman  more  than  seventy, 
was  compelled  to  give  up  her  room  and  go  up  and  occupy  a 
servant's  bed  in  the  garret  !  Look,  there,  on  the  place.  All 
that  you  see  there  is  the  Emperor's  ;  those  are  his  trunks,  don't 
you  see  ! " 

And  then  Maurice  remembered  ;  they  were  the  imperial 
carriages  and  baggage-wagons,  the  entire  magnificent  train 
that  he  had  seen  at  Rheims. 

"Ah  !  my  dear  boy,  if  you  could  but  have  seen  the  stuff 
they  took  from  them,  the  silver  plate,  and  the  bottles  of  wine, 
and  the  baskets  of  good  things,  and  the  beautiful  linen,  and 
everything  !  I  can't  help  wondering  where  they  find  room  for 
such  heaps  of  things,  for  the  house  is  not  a  large  one.  Look, 
look  !  see  what  a  fire  they  have  lighted  in  the  kitchen  ! " 

He  looked  over  at  the  small  white,  two-storied  house  that 
stood  at  the  corner  of  the  market-place  and  the  Rue  de  Vouziers, 
a  comfortable,  unassuming  house  of  bourgeois  aspect  ;  how 


102  .   .  .     TJJ.E  DOWNFALL 

well  he  remembered  it,  inside  and  out,  with  its  central  hall 
and  four  rooms  on  each  floor  ;  why,  it  was  as  if  he  had  just 
left  it  !  There  were  lights  in  the  corner  room  on  the  first 
floor  overlooking  the  square  ;  the  apothecary's  wife  informed 
him  that  it  was  the  bedroom  of  the  Emperor.  But  the  chief 
center  of  activity  seemed,  as  she  had  said,  to  be  the  kitchen, 
the  window  of  which  opened  on  the  Rue  de  Vouziers.  In  all 
their  lives  the  good  people  of  Chene  had  witnessed  no  such 
spectacle,  and  the  street  before  the  house  was  filled  with  a 
gaping  crowd,  constantly  coming  and  going,  who  stared  with 
all  their  eyes  at  the  range  on  which  was  cooking  the  dinner 
of  an  Emperor.  To  obtain  a  breath  of  air  the  cooks  had 
thrown  open  the  window  to  its  full  extent.  They  were  three 
in  number,  in  jackets  of  resplendent  whiteness,  superintend- 
ing the  roasting  of  chickens  impaled  on  a  huge  spit,  stirring 
the  gravies  and  sauces  in  copper  vessels  that  shone  like  gold. 
And  the  oldest  inhabitant,  evoking  in  memory  all  the  civic 
banquets  that  he  had  beheld  at  the  Silver  Lion,  could  truth- 
fully declare  that  never  at  any  one  time  had  he  seen  so  much 
wood  burning  and  so  much  food  cooking. 

Combette,  a  bustling,  wizened  little  man,  came  in  from  the 
street  in  a  great  state  of  excitement  from  all  that  he  had  seen 
and  heard.  His  position  as  deputy-mayor  gave  him  facilities 
for  knowing  what  was  going  on.  It  was  about  half-past  three 
o'clock  when  MacMahon  had  telegraphed  Bazaine  that  the 
Crown  Prince  of  Prussia  was  approaching  Chalons,  thus 
necessitating  the  withdrawal  of  the  army  to  the  places  along 
the  Belgian  frontier,"  and  further  dispatches  were  also  in 
preparation  for  the  Minister  of  War,  advising  him  of  the  pro- 
jected movement  and  explaining  the  terrible  dangers  of  their 
position.  It  was  uncertain  whether  or  not  the  dispatch  for 
Bazaine  would  get  through,  for  communication  with  Metz 
had  seemed  to  be  interrupted  for  the  past  few  days,  but  the 
second  dispatch  was  another  and  more  serious  matter  ;  and 
lowering  his  voice  almost  to  a  whisper  the  apothecary  repeated 
the  words  that  he  had  heard  uttered  by  an  officer  of  rank  : 
"  If  they  get  wind  of  this  in  Paris,  our  goose  is  cooked !  " 
Everyone  was  aware  of  the  unrelenting  persistency  with  which 
the  Empress  and  the  Council  of  Ministers  urged  the  advance 
of  the  army.  Moreover,  the  confusion  went  on  increasing 
from  hour  to  hour,  the  most  conflicting  advices  were  continu- 
ally coming  in  as  to  the  whereabouts  of  the  German  forces. 
Could  it  be  possible  that  the  Crown  Prince  was  at  Chalons  J 


THE  DOWNFALL  103 

What,  then,  were  the  troops  that  the  yth  corps  had  encountered 
among  the  passes  of  the  Argonne  ? 

"  They  have  no  information  at  staff  headquarters,"  con- 
tinued the  little  druggist,  raising  his  arms  above  his  head 
with  a  despairing  gesture.  "  Ah,  what  a  mess  we  are  in! 
But  all  will  be  well  if  the  army  retreats  to-morrow."  Then, 
dropping  public  for  private  matters,  the  kind-hearted  man 
said  :  "  Look  here,  my  young  friend,  I  am  going  to  see  what 
I  can  do  for  that  foot  of  yours  ;  then  we'll  give  you  some 
dinner  and  put  you  to  bed  in  my  apprentice's  little  room,  who 
has  cleared  out." 

But  Maurice  was  tormented  by  such  an  itching  desire  for 
further  intelligence  that  he  could  neither  eat  nor  sleep  until 
he  had  carried  into  execution  his  original  design  of  paying  a 
visit  to  his  old  friend,  Madame  Desvallieres,  over  the  way.  He 
was  surprised  that  he  was  not  halted  at  the  door,  which,  in  the 
universal  confusion,  had  been  left  wide  open,  without  so  much 
as  a  sentry  to  guard  it.  People  were  going  out  and  coming 
in  incessantly,  military  men  and  officers  of  the  household,  and 
the  roar  from  the  blazing  kitchen  seemed  to  rise  and  pervade 
the  whole  house.  There  was  no  light  in  the  passage  and  on 
the  staircase,  however,  and  he  had  to  grope  his  way  up  as  best 
he  might.  On  reaching  the  first  floor  he  paused  for  a  few 
seconds,  his  heart  beating  violently,  before  the  door  of  the 
apartment  that  he  knew  contained  the  Emperor,  but  not  a 
sound  was  to  be  heard  in  the  room  ;  the  stillness  that  reigned 
there  was  as  of  death.  Mounting  the  last  flight  he  presented 
himself  at  the  door  of  the  servant's  room  to  which  Madame 
Desvallieres  had  been  consigned  ;  the  old  lady  was  at  first  ter- 
rified at  sight  of  him.  When  she  recognized  him  presently 
she  said  : 

"  Ah,  my  poor  child,  what  a  sad  meeting  is  this !  I  would 
cheerfully  have  surrendered  my  house  to  the  Emperor,  but  the 
people  he  has  about  him  have  no  sense  of  decency.  They  lay 
hands  on  everything,  without  so  much  as  saying,  '  By  your 
leave,'  and  I  am  afraid  they  will  burn  the  house  down  with 
their  great  fires  !  He,  poor  man,  looks  like  a  corpse,  and  such 
sadness  in  his  face " 

And  when  the  young  man  took  leave  of  her  with  a  few  mur- 
mured words  of  comfort  she  went  with  him  to  the  door,  and  lean- 
ing over  the  banister  :  "  Look  !  "  she  softly  said,  "  you  can  see 
him  from  where  you  are.  Ah  !  we  are  all  undone.  Adieu,  my 
child!" 


104  THE  DOWNFALL 

Maurice  remained  planted  like  a  statue  on  one  of  the  steps- 
of  the  dark  staircase.  Craning  his  neck  and  directing  his 
glance  through  the  glazed  fanlight  over  the  door  of  the  apart- 
ment, he  beheld  a  sight  that  was  never  to  fade  from  his 
memory. 

In  the  bare  and  cheerless  room,  the  conventional  bourgeois 
"  parlor,"  was  the  Emperor,  seated  at  a  table  on  which  his 
plate  was  laid,  lighted  at  either  end  by  wax  candles  in  great 
silver  candelabra.  Silent  in  the  background  stood  two  aides- 
de-camp  with  folded  arms.  The  wine  in  the  glass  was  untasted, 
the  bread  untouched,  a  breast  of  chicken  was  cooling  on  the 
plate.  The  Emperor  did  not  stir  ;  he  sat  staring  down  at  the 
cloth  wi.th  those  dim,  lusterless,  watery  eyes  that  the  young  man 
remembered  to  have  seen  before  at  Rheims  ;  but  he  appeared 
more  weary  than  then,  and  when,  evidently  at  the  cost  of  a 
great  effort,  he  had  raised  a  couple  of  mouthfuls  to  his  lips,  he 
impatiently  pushed  the  remainder  of  the  food  from  him  with 
his  hand.  That  was  his  dinner.  His  pale  face  was  blanched 
"with  an  expression  of  suffering  endured  in  silence. 

As  Maurice  was  passing  the  dining  room  on  the  floor  be- 
neath, the  door  was  suddenly-thrown  open,  and  through  the 
glow  of  candles  and  the  steam  of  smoking  joints  he  caught  a 
glimpse  of  a  table  of  equerries,  chamberlains,  and  aides-de- 
camp, engaged  in  devouring  the  Emperor's  game  and  poultry 
and  drinking  his  champagne,  amid  a  great  hubbub  of  conversa- 
tion. Now  that  the  marshal's  dispatch  had  been  sent  off,  all 
these  people  were  delighted  to  know  that  the  retreat  was  as- 
sured. In  a  week  they  would  be  at  Paris  and  could  sleep  be- 
tween clean  sheets. 

Then,  for  the  first  time,  Maurice  suddenly  became  conscious 
of  the  terrible  fatigue  that  was  oppressing  him  like  a  physical 
burden  ;  there  was  no  longer  room  for  doubt,  the  whole  army 
was  about  to  fall  back,  and  the  best  thing  for  him  to  do  was 
to  get  some  sleep  while  waiting  for  the  7th  corps  to  pass.  He 
made  his  way  back  across  the  square  to  the  house  of  his  friend 
Combette,  where,  like  one  in  a  dream,  he  ate  some  dinner,  after 
which  he  was  mistily  conscious  of  someone  dressing  his  foot 
and  then  conducting  him  upstairs  to  a  bedroom.  And  then 
all  was  blackness  and  utter  annihilation  ;  he  slept  a  dreamless, 
unstirring  sleep.  But  after  an  uncertain  length  of  time — 
hours,  days,  centuries,  he  knew  not — he  gave  a  start  and  sat 
bolt  upright  in  bed  in  the  surrounding  darkness.  Where  was 
he?  What  was  that  continuous  rolling  sound,  like  the  rattling 


TttR  DOWNFALL  10$ 

of  thunder,  that  had  aroused  him  from  his  slumber?  His 
recollection  suddenly  returned  to  him  ;  he  ran  to  the  window 
to  see  what  was  going  on.  In  the  obscurity  of  the  street 
beneath,  where  the  night  was  usually  so  peaceful,  the  artillery 
was  passing,  horses,  men,  and  guns,  in  interminable  array,  with 
a  roar  and  clatter  that  made  the  lifeless  houses  quake  and 
tremble.  The  abrupt  vision  filled  him  with  unreasoning  alarm. 
What  time  might  it  be  ?  The  great  bell  in  the  Hotel  de  Ville 
struck  four.  He  was  endeavoring  to  allay  "his  uneasiness  by 
assuring  himself  that  it  was  simply  the  initial  movement  in  the 
retreat  that  had  been  o-dered  the  day  previous,  when,  raising 
his  eyes,  he  beheld  a  sight  that  gave  him  fresh  cause  for  in- 
quietude :  there  was  a  light  still  in  the  corner  window  of  the 
notary's  house  opposite,  and  the  shadow  of  the  Emperor, 
drawn  in  dark  profile  on  the  curtain,  appeared  and  disappeared 
at  regularly  spaced  intervals. 

Maurice  hastily  slipped  on  his  trousers  preparatory  to  going 
down  to  the  street,  but  just  then  Combette  appeared  at  the 
door  with  a  bed-candle  in  his  hand,  gesticulating  wildly. 

"  I  saw  you  from  the  square  as  I  was  coming  home  from  the 
Mairie,  and  I  came  up  to  tell  you  the  news.  They  have  been 
keeping  me  out  of  my  bed  all  this  time  ;  would  you  believe  it, 
for  more  than  two  hours  the  mayor  and  I  have  been  busy 
attending  to  fresh  requisitions.  Yes,  everything  is  upset 
again  ;  there  has  been  another  change  of  plans.  Ah  !  he 
knew  what  he  was  about,  that  officer  did,  who  wanted  to  keep 
the  folks  in  Paris  from  getting  wind  of  matters  !  " 

He  went  on  for  a  long  time  in  broken,  disjointed  phrases, 
and  when  he  had  finished  the  young  man,  speechless,  broken- 
hearted, saw  it  all.  About  midnight  the  Emperor  had  received 
a  dispatch  from  the  Minister  of  War  in  reply  to  the  one  that 
had  been  sent  by  the  marshal.  Its  exact  terms  were  not 
known,  but  an  aide-de-camp  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville  had  stated 
openly  that  the  Empress  and  the  Council  declared  there  would 
be  a  revolution  in  Paris  should  the  Emperor  retrace  his  steps 
and  abandon  Bazaine.  The  dispatch,  which  evinced  the  ut- 
most ignorance  as  to  the  position  of  the  German  armies  and 
the  resources  of  the  army  of  Chalons,  advised,  or  rather  or- 
dered, an  immediate  forward  movement,  regardless  of  all  con- 
siderations, in  spite  of  everything,  with  a  heat  and  fury  that 
seerv.ed  incredible. 

"  The  ivmperor  sent  for  the  marshal,"  added  the  apothecary., 
uand  they  wWe  closeted  together  for  near  an  hour  ;  of  course 


106  THE  DOWNFALL 

I  am  not  in  position  to  say  what  passed  between  them,  but  I 
am  told  by  all  the  officers  that  there  is  to  be  no  more  retreating, 
and  the  advance  to  the  Meuse  is  to  be  resumed  at  once.  We 
have  been  requisitioning  all  the  ovens  in  the  city  for  the  ist 
corps,  which  will  come  up  to-morrow  morning  and  take  the 
place  of  the  i2th,  whose  artillery  you  see  at  this  moment 
starting  for  la  Besace.  The  matter  is  decided  for  good  this 
time ;  you  will  smell  powder  before  you  are  much  older." 

He  ceased.  He  also  was' gazing  at  the  lighted  window  over 
in  the  notary's  house.  Then  he  went  on  in  a  low  voice,  as  if 
talking  to  himself,  with  an  expression  on  his  face  of  reflective 
curiosity : 

"  I  wonder  what  they  had  to  say  to  each  other  ?  It  strikes 
one  as  a  rather  peculiar  proceeding,  all  the  same,  to  run  away 
from  a  threatened  danger  at  six  in  the  evening,  and  at  mid- 
night, when  nothing  has  occurred  to  alter  the  situation,  to 
rush  headlong  into  the  very  self-same  danger." 

Below  them  in  the  street  Maurice  still  heard  the  gun-car- 
riages rumbling  and  rattling  over  the  stones  of  the  little 
sleeping  city,  that  ceaseless  tramp  of  horse  and  man,  that  un- 
interrupted tide  of  humanity,  pouring  onward  toward  the 
Meuse,  toward  the  unknown,  terrible  fate  that  the  morrow  had 
in  store  Cor  them.  And  still  upon  the  mean,  cheap  curtains  of 
that  bourgeois  dwelling  he  beheld  the  shadow  of  the  Emperor 
passing  and  repassing  at  regular  intervals,  the  restless  activity 
of  the  sick  man,  to  whom  his  cares  made  sleep  impossible, 
whose  sole  repose  was  motion,  in  whose  ears  was  ever  ringing 
that  tramp  of  horses  and  men  whom  he  was  suffering  to  be 
sent  forward  to  their  death.  A  few  brief  hours,  then,  had 
sufficed  ;  the  slaughter  was  decided  on  ;  it  was  to  be.  What, 
indeed,  could  they  have  found  to  say  to  each  other,  that 
Emperor  and  that  marshal,  conscious,  both  of  them,  of  the 
/inevitable  disaster  that  lay  before  them  ?  Assured  as  they 
were  at  night  of  defeat,  from  their  knowledge  of  the  wretched 
condition  the  army  would  be  in  when  the  time  should  come 
for  it  to  meet  the  enemy,  how,  knowing  as  they  did  that  the 
peril  was  hourly  becoming  greater,  could  they  have  changed 
their  mind  in  the  morning  ?  Certain  it  was  that  General  de 
Palikao's  plan  of  a  swift,  bold  dash  on  Montmedy,  which 
seemed  hazardous  on  the  23d  and  was,  perhaps,  still  not  im- 
practicable on  the  25th,  if  conducted  with  veteran  troops- 3.1?^ 
a  leader  of  ability,  would  on  the  27th  be  an  act  of  sheer  mad- 
ness amid  the  divided  counsels  of  the  chiefs  and  the  increas- 


THE  DOWNFALL  107 

ing  demoralization  of  the  troops.  This  they  both  well  knew  ; 
why,  then,  did  they  obey  those  merciless  drivers  who  were  flog- 
ging them  onward  in  their  irresolution  ?  why  did  they  hearken 
to  those  furious  passions  that  were  spurring  them  forward  ? 
The  marshal's,  it  might  be  said,  was  the  temperament  of  the 
soldier,  whose  duty  is  limited  to  obedience  to  his  instructions, 
great  in  its  abnegation  ;  while  the  Emperor,  who  had  ceased 
entirely  to  issue  orders,  was  waiting  on  destiny.  They  were 
called  on  to  surrender  their  lives  and  the  life  of  the  army  ; 
they  surrendered  them.  It  was  the  accomplishment  of  a  crime, 
the  black,  abominable  night  that  witnessed  the  murder  of  a 
nation,  for  thenceforth  the  army  rested  in  the  shadow  of  death  ; 
a  hundred  thousand  men  and  more  were  sent  forward  to  in- 
evitable destruction. 

While  pursuing  this  train  of  thought  Maurice  was  watching 
the  shadow  that  still  kept  appearing  and  vanishing  on  the 
muslin  of  good  Madame  Desvallieres'  curtain,  as  if  it  felt  the 
lash  of  the  pitiless  voice  that  came  to  it  from  Paris.  Had  the 
Empress  that  night  desired  the  death  of  the  father  in  order 
that  the  son  might  reign  ?  March  !  forward  ever  !  with  no 
look  backward,  through  mud,  through  rain,  to  bitter  death, 
that  the  final  game  of  the  agonizing  empire  may  be  played 
out,  even  to  the  last  card.  March  !  march  !  die  a  hero's 
death  on  the  piled  corpses  of  your  people,  let  the  whole 
world  gaze  in  awe-struck  admiration,  for  the  honor  and  glory 
of  your  name  !  And  doubtless  the  Emperor  was  marching  to 
his  death.  Below,  the  fires  in  the  kitchen  flamed  and  flashed 
no  longer  ;  equerries,  aides-de-camp  and  chamberlains  were 
slumbering,  the  whole  house  was  wrapped  in  darkness,  while 
ever  the  lone  shade  went  and  came  unceasingly,  accepting 
with  resignation  the  sacrifice  that  was  to  be,  amid  the  deafen- 
ing uproar  of  the  i2th  corps,  that  was  defiling  still  through 
the  black  night. 

Maurice  suddenly  reflected  that,  if  the  advance  was  to  be  re- 
sumed, the  yth  corps  would  not  pass  through  Chene,  and  he 
beheld  himself  left  behind,  separated  from  his  regiment,  a  de- 
serter from  his  post.  His  foot  no  longer  pained  him  ;  his 
friend's  dressing  and  a  few  hours  of  complete  rest  had  allayed 
the  inflammation.  Combette  gave  him  a  pair  of  easy  shoes  of 
his  own  that  were  comfortable  to  his  feet,  and  as  soon  as  he 
had  them  on  he  wanted  to  be  off,  hoping  that  he  might  yet  be 
able  to  overtake  the  io6th  somewhere  on  the  road  between 
Chene  and  Vouziers.  The  apothecary  labored  vainly  to  dis- 


Io8  THE  DOWNFALL 


suade  him,  and  had  almost  made  up  his  mind  to  put  his  horse 
in  the  gig  and  drive  him  over  in  person,  trusting  to  fortune  to 
befriend  him  in  finding  the  regiment,  when  Fernand,  the  ap- 
prentice, appeared,  alleging  as  an  excuse  for  his  absence  that 
he  had  been  to  see  his  sister.  The  youth  was  a  tall,  tallow- 
faced  individual,  who  looked  as  if  he  had  not  the  spirit  of  a 
mouse  ;  the  horse  was  quickly  hitched  to  the  carriage  and  he 
drove  off  with  Maurice.  It  was  not  yet  five  o'clock  ;  the  rain 
was  pouring  in  torrents  from  a  sky  of  inky  blackness,  and  the 
dim  carriage-lamps  faintly  illuminated  the  road  and  cast  little 
fitful  gleams  of  light  across  the  streaming  fields  on  either  side, 
over  which  came  mysterious  sounds  that  made  them  pull  up 
from  time  to  time  in  the  belief  that  the  army  was  at  hand. 

Jean,  meantime,  down  there  before  Vouziers,  had  not  been 
slumbering.  Maurice  had  explained  to  him  how  the  retreat 
was  to  be  salvation  to  them  all,  and  he  was  keeping  watch, 
holding  his  men  together  and  waiting  for  the  order  to  move, 
which  might  come  at  any  minute.  About  two  o'clock,  in  the 
intense  darkness  that  was  dotted  here  and  there  by  the  red 
glow  of  the  watch-fires,  a  great  trampling  of  horses  resounded 
through  the  camp  ;  it  was  the  advance-guard  of  cavalry  mov- 
ing off  toward  Balay  and  Quatre-Champs  so  as  to  observe  the 
roads  from  Boult-aux-Bois  and  Croix-aux-Bois  ;  then  an  hour 
later  the  infantry  and  artillery  also  put  themselves  in  motion, 
abandoning  at  last  the  positions  of  Chestre  and  Falaise  that 
they  had  defended  so  persistently  for  two  long  days  against  an 
enemy  who  never  showed  himself.  The  sky  had  become  over- 
cast, the  darkness  was  profound,  and  one  by  one  the  regiments 
inarched  out  in  deepest  silence,  an  array  of  phantoms  stealing 
away  into  the  bosom  of  the  night.  Every  heart  beat  joyfully, 
however,  as  if  they  were  escaping  from  some  treacherous  pit- 
fall ;  already  in  imagination  the  troops  beheld  themselves 
under  the  walls  of  Paris,  where  their  revenge  was  awaiting 
them. 

Jean  looked  out  into  the  thick  blackness.  The  road  was 
bordered  with  trees  on  either  hand  and,  as  far  as  he  could  see, 
appeared  to  lie  between  wide  meadows.  Presently  the  coun- 
try became  rougher  ;  there  was  a  succession  of  sharp  rises  and 
descents,  and  just  as  they  were  entering  a  village  which  he 
supposed  to  be  Balay,  two  straggling  rows  of  houses  bordering 
the  road,  the  dense  cloud  that  had  obscured  the  heavens  burst 
in  a  deluge  of  rain.  The  men  had  received  so  many  duckings 
within  the  past  few  days  that  they  took  this  one  without  a 


THE  DOWNFALL  109 

murmur,  bowing  their  heads  and  plodding  patiently  onward  ; 
but  when  they  had  left  Balay  behind  them  and  were  crossing 
a  wide  extent  of  level  ground  near  Quatre-Champs  a  violent 
wind  began  to  rise.  Beyond  Quatre-Champs,  when  they  had 
fought  their  way  upward  to  the  wide  plateau  that  extends  in  a 
dreary  stretch  of  waste  land  as  far  as  Noirval,  the  wind 
increased  to  a  hurricane  and  the  driving  rain  stung  their  faces. 
There  it  was  that  the  order,  proceeding  from  the  head  of  the 
column  and  re-echoed  down  the  line,  brought  the  regiments  one 
after  another  to  a  halt,  and  the  entire  yth  corps,  thirty-odd 
thousand  men,  found  itself  once  more  reunited  in  the  mud  and 
rain  of  the  gray  dawn.  What  was  the  matter  ?  Why  were 
they  halted  there  ?  An  uneasy  feeling  was  already  beginning 
to  pervade  the  ranks  ;  it  was  asserted  in  some  quarters  that 
there  had  been  a  change  of  orders.  The  men  had  been 
brought  to  ordered  arms  and  forbidden  to  leave  the  ranks  or 
sit  down.  At  times  the  wind  swept  over  the  elevated  plateau 
with  such  violence  that  they  had  to  press  closely  to  one  another 
to  keep  from  being  carried  off  their  feet.  The  rain  blinded 
them  and  trickled  in  ice-cold  streams  beneath  their  collars 
down  their  backs.  And  two  hours  passed,  a  period  of  waiting 
that  seemed  as  if  it  would  never  end,  for  what  purpose  no  one 
could  say,  in  an  agony  of  expectancy  that  chilled  the  hearts  of 
all. 

As  the  daylight  increased  Jean  made  an  attempt  to  discern 
where  they  were.  Someone  had  shown  him  where  the  Chene 
road  lay  off  to  the  northwest,  passing  over  a  hill  beyond 
Quatre-Champs.  Why  had  they  turned  to  the  right  instead 
of  to  the  left  ?  Another  object  of  interest  to  him  was  the  general 
and  his  staff,  who  had  established  themselves  at  the  Converserie, 
a  farm  on  the  edge  of  the  plateau.  There  seemed  to  be  a  heated 
discussion  going  on  ;  officers  were  going  and  coming  and  the 
conversation  was  carried  on  with  much  gesticulation.  What 
could  they  be  waiting  for  ?  nothing  was  coming  that  way.  The 
plateau  formed  a  sort  of  amphitheater,  broad  expanses  of 
stubble  that  were  commanded  to  the  north  and  east  by  wooded 
heights  ;  to  the  south  were  thick  woods,  while  to  the  west  an 
opening  afforded  a  glimpse  of  the  valley  of  the  Aisne  with  the 
little  white  houses  of  Vouziers.  Below  the  Converserie  rose 
the  slated  steeple  of  Quatre-Champs  church,  looming  dimly 
through  the  furious  storm,  which  seemed  as  if  it  would  sweep 
away  bodily  the  few  poor  moss-grown  cottages  of  the  village. 
As  Jean's  glance  wandered  down  the  ascending  road  he  became 


110  THE  DOWNFALL 

conscious  of  a  doctor's  gig  coming  up  at  a  sharp  trot  along  the 
stony  road,  that  was  now  the  bed  of  a  rapid  torrent. 

It  was  Maurice,  who,  at  a  turn  in  the  road,  from  the  hill  that 
lay  beyond  the  valley,  had  finally  discerned  the  yth  corps. 
For  two  hours  he  had  been  wandering  about  the  country, 
thanks  to  the  stupidity  of  a  peasant  who  had  misdirected  him 
and  the  sullen  ill-will  of  his  driver,  whom  fear  of  the  Prussians 
had  almost  deprived  of  his  wits.  As  soon  as  he  reached  the 
farmhouse  he  leaped  from  the  gig  and  had  no  further  trouble 
in  finding  the  regiment. 

Jean  addressed  him  in  amazement: 

"  What,  is  it  you  ?  What  is  the  meaning  of  this  ?  I  thought 
you  were  to  wait  until  we  came  along." 

Maurice's  tone  and  manner  told  of  his  rage  and  sorrow. 

"Ah,  yes  !  we  are  no  longer  going  in  that  direction  ;  it  is 
down  yonder  we  are  to  go,  to  get  ourselves  knocked  in  the 
head,  all  of  us  !  " 

"  Very  well,"  said  the  other  presently,  with  a  very  white 
face.  "  We  will  die  together,  at  all  events." 

The  two  men  met,  as  they  had  parted,  with  an  embrace.  In 
the  drenching  rain  that  still  beat  down  as  pitilessly  as  ever,  the 
humble  private  resumed  his  place  in  the  ranks,  while  the  cor- 
poral,  in  his  streaming  garments,  never  murmured  as  he  gave 
him  the  example  of  what  a  soldier  should  be. 

And  now  the  tidings  became  more  definite  and  spread 
among  the  men  ;  they  were  no  longer  retreating  on  Paris ;  the- 
advance  to  the  Meuse  was  again  the  order  of  the  day.  An 
aide-de-camp  had  brought  to  the  yth  corps  instructions  from 
the  marshal  to  go  and  encamp  at  Nonart ;  the  5th  was  to  take 
the  direction  of  Beauclair,  where  it  would  be  the  right  wing  of 
the  army,  while  the  ist  was  to  move  up  to  Chene  and  relieve 
the  1 2th,  then  on  the  march  to  la  Besace  on  the  extreme  left. 
And  the  reason  why  more  than  thirty  thousand  men  had  been 
kept  waiting  there  at  ordered  arms,  for  .nearly  three  hours  in 
the  midst  of  a  blinding  storm,  was  that  General  Douay,  in  the 
deplorable  confusion  incident  on  this  new  change  of  front, 
was  alarmed  for  the  safety  of  the  train  that  had  been  sent  for- 
ward the  day  before  toward  Chagny  ;  the  delay  was  necessary 
to  give  the  several  divisions  time  to  close  up.  In  the  confusion 
of  all  these  conflicting  movements  it  was  said  that  the  i2th 
corps  train  had  blocked  the  road  at  Chene,  thus  cutting  off 
that  of  the  yth.  On  the  other  hand,  an  important  part  of  the 
tnatfriel,  all  the  forges  of  the  artillery,  had  mistaken  their  road 


THE  DOWNFALL  lit 

and  strayed  off  in  the  direction  of  Terron  ;  they  were  now 
trying  to  find  their  way  back  by  the  Vouziers  road,  where  they 
were  certain  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Germans.  Never 
was  there  such  utter  confusion,  never  was  anxiety  so  intense. 

A  feeling  of  bitterest  discouragement  took  possession  of 
the  troops.  Many  of  them  in  their  despair  would  have  pre- 
ferred to  seat  themselves  on  their  knapsacks,  in  the  midst  of 
that  sodden,  wind-swept  plain,  and  wait  for  death  to  come  to 
them.  They  reviled  their  leaders  and  loaded  them  with  in- 
sult :  ah  !  famous  leaders,  they  ;  brainless  boobies,  undoing  at 
night  what  they  had  done  in  the  morning,  idling  and  loafing 
when  there  was  no  enemy  in  sight,  and  taking  to  their  heels  as 
soon  as  he  showed  his  face  !  Each  minute  added  to  the  de- 
moralization that  was  already  rife,  making  of  that  army  a  rab- 
ble, without  faith  or  hope,  without  discipline,  a  herd  that  their 
chiefs  were  conducting  to  the  shambles  by  ways  of  which  they 
themselves  were  ignorant.  Down  in  the  direction  of  Vouziers 
the  sound  of  musketry  was  heard  ;  shots  were  being  exchanged 
between  the  rear-guard  of  the  yth  corps  and  the  German  skir- 
mishers ;  and  now  every  eye  was  turned  upon  the  valley  of  the 
Aisne,  where  volumes  of  dense  black  smoke  were  whirling  up- 
ward toward  the  sky  from  which  the  clouds  had  suddenly 
been  swept  away  ;  they  all  knew  it  was  the  village  of  Falaise 
burning,  fired  by  the  uhlans.  Every  man  felt  his  blood  boil 
in  his  veins;  so  the  Prussians  were  there  at  last  ;  they  had  sat 
and  waited  two  days  for  them  to  come  up,  and  then  had  turned 
and  fled.  The  most  ignorant  among  the  men  had  felt  their 
cheeks  tingle  for  very  shame  as,  in  their  dull  way,  they  recog- 
nized the  idiocy  that  had  prompted  that  enormous  blunder, 
that  imbecile  delay,  that  trap  into  which  they  had  walked 
blindfolded;  the  light  cavalry  of  the  IVth  army  feinting  in  front 
of  Bordas'  brigade  and  halting  and  neutralizing,  one  by  one, 
the  several  corps  of  the  army  of  Chalons,  solely  to  give  the 
Crown  Prince  time  to  hasten  up  with  the  Hid  army.  And  now, 
thanks  to  the  marshal's  complete  and  astounding  ignorance 
as  to  the  identity  of  the  troops  he  had  before  him,  the  junc- 
tion was  accomplished,  and  the  5th  and  yth  corps  were  to  be 
roughly  handled,  with  the  constant  menace  of  disaster  over- 
shadowing them. 

Maurice's  eyes  were  bent  on  the  horizon,  where  it  was 
reddened  with  the  flames  of  burning  Falaise.  They  had  one 
consolation,  however  :  the  train  that  had  been  believed  to  be 
lost  came  crawling  along  out  of  the  Chene  road.  Without 


H2  THE  DOWNFALL 

delay  the  2d  division  put  itself  in  motion  and  struck  out 
across  the  forest  for  Boult-aux-Bois,  the  3d  took  post  on  the 
heights  of  Belleville  to  the  left  in  order  to  keep  an  eye  to  the 
communications,  while  the  ist  remained  at  Quatre-Champs  to 
wait  for  the  coming  up  of  the  train  and  guard  its  countless 
wagons.  Just  then  the  rain  began  to  come  down  again  with 
increased  violence,  and  as  the  io6th  moved  off  the  plateau, 
resuming  the  march  that  should  have  never  been,  toward  the 
Meuse,  toward  the  unknown,  Maurice  thought  he  beheli 
again  his  vision  of  the  night :  the  shadow  of  the  Emperor,  in- 
cessantly appearing  and  vanishing,  so  sad,  so  pitiful  a  sight, 
on  the  white  curtain  of  good  old  Madame  Desvallieres.  Ah  ! 
that  doomed  army,  that  army  of  despair,  that  was  being  driven 
forward  to  inevitable  destruction  for  the  salvation  of  a 
dynasty  !  March,  march,  onward  ever,  with  no  look  behind, 
through  mud,  through  rain,  to  the  bitter  end  ! 


VI. 

THUNDER  !  "  Chouteau  ejaculated  the  following  morning 
when  he  awoke,  chilled  and  with  aching  bones,  under  the 
tent,   u  I   wouldn't  mind    having   a  bouillon  with    plenty  of 
meat  in  it." 

At  Boult-aux-Bois,  where  they  were  now  encamped,  the  only 
ration  issued  to  the  men  the  night  before  had  been  an  ex- 
tremely slender  one  of  potatoes  ;  the  commissariat  was  daily 
more  and  more  distracted  and  disorganized  by  the  everlasting 
marches  and  countermarches,  never  reaching  the  designated 
points  of  rendezvous  in  time  to  meet  the  troops.     As  for  the 
herds,  no  one  had  the  faintest  idea  where  they  might  be  upo:i 
the  crowded  roads,  and  famine  was  staring  the  army  in  the  face 
Loubet  stretched  himself  and  plaintively  replied  : 
"  Ah,  fichtre,  yes  ! — No  more  roast  goose  for  us  now." 
The  squad  was  out  of  sorts  and  sulky.     Men  couldn't  be 
expected  to  be  lively  on  an  empty  stomach.     And  then  there 
was  the  rain  that  poured  down  incessantly,  and  the  mud  in 
which  they  had  to  make  their  beds. 

Observing  Pache  make  the  sign  of  the  cross  after  mumbling 
his  morning  prayer,  Chouteau  captiously  growled  : 

"  Ask  that  good  God  of  yours,  if  he  is  good  for  anything, 
to  send  us  down  a  couple  of  sausages  and  a  mug  of  beer 
apiece," 


THE  DOWNFALL  113 

"Ah,  if  we  only  had  a  good  big  loaf  of  bread  !"  sighed 
Lapoulle,  whose  ravenous  appetite  made  hunger  a  more  griev- 
ous affliction  to  him  than  to  the  others. 

But  Lieutenant  Rochas,  passing  by  just  then,  made  them  be 
silent.  It  was  scandalous,  never  to  think  of  anything  but 
their  stomachs  !  When  he  was  hungry  he  tightened  up  the 
buckle  of  his  trousers.  Now  that  things  were  becoming  de- 
cidedly squally  and  the  popping  of  rifles  was  to  be  heard  oc- 
casionally in  the  distance,  he  had  recovered  all  his  old  serene 
confidence  :  it  was  all  plain  enough,  now  ;  the  Prussians  were 
there — well,  all  they  had  to  do  was,  go  out  and  lick  '  em. 
And  he  gave  a  significant  shrug  of  the  shoulders,  standing  be- 
hind Captain  Beaudoin,  the  very  young  man,  as  he  called  him, 
with  his  pale  face  and  pursed-up  lips,  whom  the  loss  of  his 
baggage  had  afflicted  so  grievously  that  he  had  even  ceased 
to  fume  and  scold.  A  man  might  get  along  without  eating,  at 
a  pinch,  but  that  he  could  not  change  his  linen  was  a  circum- 
stance productive  of  sorrow  and  anger. 

Maurice  awoke  to  a  sensation  of  despondency  and  physical 
discomfort.  Thanks  to  his  easy  shoes  the  inflammation  in  his 
foot  had  gone  down,  but  the  drenching  he  had  received  the 
day  before,  from  the  effects  of  which  his  greatcoat  seemed  to 
weigh  a  ton,  had  left  him  with  a  distinct  and  separate  ache  in 
every  bone  of  his  body.  When  he  was  sent  to  the  spring  to 
get  water  for  the  coffee  he  took  a  survey  of  the  plain  on  the 
edge  of  which  Boult-aux-Bois  is  situated  :  forests  rise  to  the 
west  and  north,  and  there  is  a  hill  crowned  by  the  hamlet  of 
Belleville,  while,  over  to  the  east,  Buzancy  way,  there  is  a 
broad,  level  expanse,  stretching  far  as  the  eye  can  see,  with  an 
occasional  shallow  depression  concealing  a  small  cluster  of 
cottages.  Was  it  from  that  direction  that  they  were  to  expect 
the  enemy  ?  As  he  was  returning  from  the  stream  with  his 
bucket  filled  with  water,  the  father  of  a  family  of  wretched" 
peasants  hailed  him  from  the  door  of  his  hovel,  and  asked  him 
if  the  soldiers  were  this  time  going  to  stay  and  defend  them. 
In  the  confusion  of  conflicting  orders  the  5th  corps  had 
already  traversed  the  region  no  less  than  three  times.  The 
sound  of  cannonading  had  reached  them  the  day  before  from 
the  direction  of  Bar ;  the  Prussians  could  not  be  more  than  a 
couple  of  leagues  away.  And  when  Maurice  made  answer  to 
the  poor  folks  that  doubtless  the  yth  corps  would  also  be 
called  away  after  a  time,  their  tears  flowed  afresh.  Then  they 
were  to  be  abandoned  to  the  enemy,  and  the  soldiers  had  not 


H4  THE  DOWNFALL 

come  there  to  fight,  whom  they  saw  constantly  vanishing  and 
reappearing,  always  on  the  run  ? 

"  Those  who  like  theirs  sweet,"  observed  Loubet,  as  he 
poured  the  coffee,  "  have  only  to  stick  their  thumb  in  it  and 
wait  for  it  to  melt." 

Not  a  man  of  them  smiled.  It  was  too  bad,  all  the  same,  to 
have  to  drink  their  coffee  without  sugar ;  and  then,  too,  if 
they  only  had  some  biscuit !  Most  of  them  had  devoured 
what  eatables  they  had  in  their  knapsacks,  to  the  very  last 
crumb,  to  while  away  their  time  of  waiting,  the  day  before,  on 
the  plateau  of  Quatre-Champs.  Among  them,  however,  the 
members  of  the  squad  managed  to  collect  a  dozen  potatoes, 
which  they  shared  equally. 

Maurice,  who  began  to  feel  a  twinging  sensation  in  his 
stomach,  uttered  a  regretful  cry  : 

"  If  I  had  known  of  this  I  would  have  bought  some  bread 
at  Chene." 

Jean  listened  in  silence.  He  had  had  a  dispute  with  Chou- 
teau  that  morning,  who,  on  being  ordered  to  go  for  firewood, 
had  insolently  refused,  alleging  that  it  was  not  his  turn.  Now 
that  everything  was  so  rapidly  going  to  the  dogs,  insubordina- 
tion among  the  men  had  increased  to  such  a  point  that  those 
in  authority  no  longer  ventured  to  reprimand  them,  and  Jean, 
with  his  sober  good  sense  and  pacific  disposition,  saw  that  if 
he  would  preserve  his  influence  with  his  squad  he  must  keep 
the  corporal  in  the  background  as  far  as  possible.  For  this 
reason  he  was  hail-fellow-well-met  with  his*  men,  who  could 
not  fail  to  see  what  a  treasure  they  had  in  a  man  of  his  experi- 
ence, for  if  those  committed  to  his  care  did  not  always  have 
all  they  wanted  to  eat,  they  had,  at  all  events,  not  suffered 
from  hunger,  as  had  been  the  case  with  so  many  others.  But 
he  was  touched  by  the  sight  of  Maurice's  suffering.  He  saw 
that  he  was  losing  strength,  and  looked  at  him  anxiously,  ask- 
ing himself  how  that  delicate  young  man  would  ever  manage 
to  sustain  the  privations  of  that  horrible  campaign. 

When  Jean  heard  Maurice  bewail  the  lack  of  bread  he  arose 
quietly,  went  to  his  knapsack,  and,  returning,  slipped  a  biscuit 
into  the  other's  hand. 

"  Here  !  don't  let  the  others  see  it ;  I  have  not  enough  to  go 
round." 

"  But  what  will  you  do  ?"  asked  the  young  man,  deeply  af- 
fected. 

"  Oh,  don't  be  alarmed  about  me — I  have  two  left." 


THE  DOWNFALL  115 

It  was  true  ;  he  bad  carefully  put  aside  three  biscuits,  in 
case  there  should  be  a  fight,  knowing  that  men  are  often 
hungry  on  the  battlefield.  And  then,  besides,  he  had  just 
eaten  a  potato  ;  that  would  be  sufficient  for  him.  Perhaps 
something  would  turn  up  later  on. 

About  ten  o'clock  the  yth  corps  made  a  fresh  start.  The 
marshal's  first  intention  had  been  to  direct  it  by  way  of  Bu- 
zancy  upon  Stenay,  where  it  would  have  passed  the  Meuse. 
but  the  Prussians,  outmarching  the  army  of  Chalons,  were 
already  in  Stenay,  and  were  even  reported  to  be  at  Buzancy. 
Crowded  back  in  this  mariner  to  the  northward,  the  yth  corps 
had  received  orders  to  move  to  la  Besace,  some  twelve  or  fif- 
teen miles  from  Boult-aux-Bois,  whence,  on  the  next  day,  they 
would  proceed  to  pass  the  Meuse  at  Mouzon.  The  start  was 
made  in  a  very  sulky  humor  ;  the  men,  with  empty  stomachs 
and  bodies  unrefreshed  by  repose,  unnerved,  mentally  and 
physically,  by  the  experience  of  the  past  few  days,  vented  their 
dissatisfaction  by  growling  and  grumbling,  while  the  officers, 
without  a  spark  of  their  usual  cheerful  gayety,  with  a  vague 
sense  of  impending  disaster  awaiting  them  at  the  end  of  their 
march,  taxed  the  dilatoriness  of  their  chiefs,  and  reproached 
them  for  not  going  to  the  assistance  of  the  5th  corps  at  Bu- 
zancy, where  the  sound  of  artillery-firing  had  been  heard. 
That  corps,  too,  was  on  the  retreat,  making  its  way  toward 
Nonart,  while  the  1 2th  was  even  then  leaving  la  Besace  for 
Mouzon,  and  the  istwas  directing  its  course  toward  Raucourt. 
It  was  like  nothing  so  much  as  the  passage  of  a  drove  of  panic- 
stricken  cattle,  with  the  dogs  worrying  them  and  snapping  at 
their  heels — a  wild  stampede  toward  the  Meuse. 

When,  in  the  outstreaming  torrent  of  the  three  divisions 
that  striped  the  plain  with  columns  of  marching  men,  the  io6th 
left  Boult-aux-Bois  in  the  rear  of  the  cavalry  and  artillery,  the 
sky  was  again  overspread  with  a  pall  of  dull  leaden  clouds  that 
further  lowered  the  spirits  of  the  soldiers.  Its  route  was  along 
the  Buzancy  highway,  planted  on  either  side  with  rows  of  mag- 
nificent poplars.  When  they  reached  Germond,  a  village 
where  there  was  a  steaming  manure-heap  before  every  one  of 
the  doors  that  lined  the  two  sides  of  the  straggling  street,  the 
sobbing  women  came  to  their  thresholds  with  their  little  chil- 
dren in  their  arms,  and  held  them  out  to  the  passing  troops,  as 
if  begging  the  men  to  take  them  with  them.  There  was  not  a 
mouthful  of  bread  to  be  had  in  all  the  hamlet,  nor  even  a 
potato.  After  that,  the  regiment,  instead  of  keeping  straight 


Ii6  THE   DOWNFALL 

on  toward  Buzancy,  turned  to  the  left  and  made  for  Authe, 
and  when  the  men  turned  their  eyes  across  the  plain  and  be- 
held upon  the  hilltop  Belleville,  through  which  they  had  passed 
the  day  before,  the  fact  that  they  were  retracing  their  steps 
was  impressed  more  vividly  on  their  consciousness. 

"  Heavens  and  earth  !  "  growled  Chouteau,  "  do  they  take 
us  for  tops  ?  " 

And  Loubet  chimed  in  : 

"  Those  cheap-John  generals  of  ours  are  all  at  sea  again  ! 
They  must  think  that  men's  legs  are  cheap." 

The  anger  and  disgust  were  general.  It  was  not  right  to 
make  men  suffer  like  that,  just  for  the  fun  of  walking  them  up 
and  down  the  country.  They  were  advancing  in  column  across 
the  naked  plain  in  two  files  occupying  the  sides  of  the  road, 
leaving  a  free  central  space  in  which  the  officers  could  move 
to  and  fro  and  keep  an  eye  on  their  men,  but  it  was  not  the 
same  now  as  it  had  been  in  Champagne  after  they  left  Rheims, 
a  march  of  song  and  jollity,  when  they  tramped  along  gayly 
and  the  knapsack  was  like  a  feather  to  their  shoulders,  in  the 
belief  that  soon  they  would  come  up  with  the  Prussians  and 
give  them  a  sound  drubbing  ;  now  they  were  dragging  them- 
selves wearily  forward  in  angry  silence,  cursing  the  musket 
that  galled  their  shoulder  and  the  equipments  that  seemed  to 
weigh  them  to  the  ground,  their  faith  in  their  leaders  gone, 
and  possessed  by  such  bitterness  of  despair  that  they  only  went 
forward  as  does  a  file  of  manacled  galley-slaves,  in  terror 
of  the  lash.  The  wretched  army  had  begun  to  ascend  its 
Calvary. 

Maurice,  however,  within  the  last  few  minutes  had  made  a 
discovery  that  interested  him  greatly.  To  their  left  was  a 
range  of  hills  that  rose  one  above  another  as  they  receded 
from  the  road,  and  from  the  skirt  of  a  little  wood,  far  up  on 
the  mountain-side,  he  had  seen  a  horseman  emerge.  Then 
another  appeared,  and  then  still  another.  There  they  stood, 
all  three  of  them,  without  sign  of  life,  apparently  no  larger 
than  a  man's  hand  and  looking  like  delicately  fashioned  toys. 
He  thought  they  were  probably  part  of  a  detachment  of  our 
hussars  out  on  a  reconnoissance,  when  all  at  once  he  was  sur- 
prised to  behold  little  points  of  light  flashing  from  their 
shoulders,  doubtless  the  reflection  of  the  sunlight  from  epau- 
lets of  brass. 

"  Look  there  !  "  he  said,  nudging  Jean,  who  was  marching 
at  his  side.  "  Uhlans  !  " 


THE  DOWNFALL  1 17 

The  corporal  stared  with  all  his  eyes.     "  They,  uhlans  ! " 

They  were  indeed  uhlans,  the  first  Prussians  that  the  io6th 
had  set  eyes  on.  They  had  been  in  the  field  nearly  six  weeks 
now,  and  in  all  that  time  not  only  had  they  never  smelt  powder, 
but  had  never  even  seen  an  enemy.  The  news  spread  through 
the  ranks,  and  every  head  was  turned  to  look  at  them.  Not 
such  bad-looking  fellows,  those  uhlans,  after  all. 

"  One  of  them  looks  like  a  jolly  little  fat  fellow,"  Loubet 
remarked. 

But  presently  an  entire  squadron  came  out  and  showed 
itself  on  a  plateau  to  the  left  of  the  little  wood,  and  at  sight 
of  the  threatening  demonstration  the  column  halted.  An 
officer  came  riding  up  with  orders,  and  the  io6th  moved  off  a 
little  and  took  position  on  the  bank  of  a  small  stream  behind  a 
clump  of  trees.  The  artillery  had  come  hurrying  back  from 
the  front  on  a  gallop  and  taken  possession  of  a  low,  rounded 
hill.  For  near  two  hours  they  remained  there  thus  in  line  of 
battle  without  the  occurrence  of  anything  further  ;  the  body 
of  hostile  cavalry  remained  motionless  in  the  distance,  and 
finally,  concluding  that  they  were  only  wasting  time  that  was 
valuable,  the  officers  set  the  column  moving  again. 

"Ah  well,"  Jean  murmured  regretfully,"  we  are  not  booked 
for  it  this  time." 

Maurice,  too,  had  felt  his  finger-tips  tingling  with  the  desire 
to  have  just  one  shot.  He  kept  harping  on  the  theme  of  the 
mistake  they  had  made  the  day  before  in  not  going  to  the 
support  of  the  5th  corps.  If  the  Prussians  had  not  made  their 
attack  yet,  it  must  be  because  their  infantry  had  not  got  up  in 
sufficient  strength,  whence  it  was  evident  that  their  display  of 
cavalry  in  the  distance  was  made  with  no  other  end  than  to 
harass  us  and  check  the  advance  of  our  corps.  We  had  again 
fallen  into  the  trap  set  for  us,  and  thenceforth  the  regiment 
was  constantly  greeted  with  the  sight  of  uhlans  popping  up 
on  its  left  flank  wherever  the  ground  was  favorable  for  them, 
tracking  it  like  sleuthhounds,  disappearing  behind  a  farm- 
house only  to  reappear  at  the  corner  of  a  wood. 

It  eventually  produced  a  disheartening  effect  on  the  troops 
to  see  that  cordon  closing  in  on  them  in  the  distance  and  en- 
veloping them  as  in  the  meshes  of  some  gigantic,  invisible  net. 
Even  Pache  and  Lapoulle  had  an  opinion  on  the  subject. 

"  It  is  beginning  to  be  tiresome  !  "  they  said.  "  It  would  be 
a  comfort  to  send  them  our  compliments  in  the  shape  of  a 
musket-ball  !  " 


Ii8  THE  DOWNFALL 

But  they  kept  toiling  wearily  onward  on  their  tired  feet,  that 
seemed  to  them  as  if  they  were  of  lead.  In  the  distress  and 
suffering  of  that  day's  march  there  was  ever  present  to  all  the 
undefined  sensation  of  the  proximity  of  the  enemy,  drawing  in 
on  them  from  every  quarter,  just  as  we  are  conscious  of  the 
coming  storm  before  we  have  seen  a  cloud  on  the  horizon. 
Instructions  were  given  the  rear-guard  to  use  severe  measures, 
if  necessary,  to  keep  the  column  well  closed  up,  but  there  was' 
not  much  straggling,  aware  as  everyone  was  that  the  Prussians 
were  close  in  our  rear,  and  ready  to  snap  up  every  unfortunate 
that  they  could  lay  hands  on.  Their  infantry  was  coming  up 
with  the  rapidity  of  the  whirlwind,  making  its  twenty-five  miles 
a  day,  while  the  French  regiments,  in  their  demoralized  condi- 
tion, seemed  in  comparison  to  be  marking  time. 

At  Authe  the  weather  cleared,  and  Maurice,  taking  his  bear- 
ings by  the  position  of  the  sun,  noticed  that  instead  of  bearing 
off  toward  Chene,  which  lay  three  good  leagues  from  where 
they  were,  they  had  turned  and  were  moving  directly  eastward. 
It  was  two  o'clock  ;  the  men,  after  shivering  in  the  rain  for 
two  days,  were  now  suffering  from  the  intense  heat.  The  road 
ascended,  with  long  sweeping  curves,  through  a  region  of  utter 
desolation  :  not  a  house,  not  a  living  being,  the  only  relief  to 
the  dreariness  of  the  waste  lands  an  occasional  little  somber 
wood  ;  and  the  oppressive  silence  communicated  itself  to  the 
men,  who  toiled  onward  with  drooping  heads,  bathed  in  per- 
spiration. At  last  Saint-Pierremont  appeared  before  them,  a 
few  empty  houses  on  a  small  elevation.  They  did  not  pass 
through  the  village.  Maurice  observed  that  here  they  made 
a  sudden  wheel  to  the  left,  resuming  their  northern  course, 
toward  la  Besace.  He  now  understood  the  route  that  had 
been  adopted  in  their  attempt  to  reach  Mouzon  ahead  of  the 
Prussians  ;  but  would  they  succeed,  with  such  weary,  demor- 
alized troops  ?  At  Saint-Pierremont  the  three  uhlans  had 
shown  themselves  again,  at  a  turn  in  the  road  leading  to 
Buzancy,  and  just  as  the  rear-guard  was  leaving  the  village  a 
battery  was  unmasked  and  a  few  shells  came  tumbling  among 
them,  without  doing  any  injury,  however.  No  response  was 
attempted,  and  the  march  was  continued  with  constantly  in- 
creasing effort. 

From  Saint-Pierremont  to  la  Besace  the  distance  is  three 
good  leagues,  and  when  Maurice  imparted  that  information  to 
Jean  the  latter  made  a  gesture  of  discouragement  :  the  men 
would  never  be  able  to  accomplish  it  ;  they  showed  it  by  their 


THE  DOWNFALL  119 

shortness  of  breath,  by  their  haggard  faces.  The  road  con- 
tinued to  ascend,  between  gently  sloping  hills  on  either  side 
that  were  gradually  drawing  closer  together.  The  condition 
of  the  men  necessitated  a  halt,  but  the  only  effect  of  their  brief 
repose  was  to  increase  the  stiffness  of  their  benumbed  limbs, 
and  when  the  order  was  given  to  march  the  state  of  affairs  was 
worse  than  it  had  been  before  ;  the  regiments  made  no  prog- 
ress, men  were  everywhere  falling  in  the  ranks.  Jean,  notic- 
ing Maurice's  pallid  face  and  glassy  eyes,  infringed  on  what 
was  his  usual  custom  and  conversed,  endeavoring  by  his 
volubility  to  divert  the  other's  attention  and  keep  him  awake 
as  he  moved  automatically  forward,  unconscious  of  his 
actions. 

"  Your  sister  lives  in  Sedan,  you  say  ;  perhaps  we  shall  be 
there  before  long." 

"  What,  at  Sedan  ?  Never  !  You  must  be  crazy  ;  it  don't 
lie  in  our  way." 

"  Is  your  sister  young  ? " 

"  Just  my  age  ;  you  know  I  told  you  we  are  twins." 

**  Is  she  like  you  ? " 

"  Yes,  she  is  fair-haired,  too  ;  and  oh!  such  pretty  curling 
hair  !  She  is  a  mite  of  a  woman,  with  a  little  thin  face,  not 
one  of  your  noisy,  flashy  hoydens,  ah,  no  ! — Dear  Henriette  !" 

"  You  love  her  very  dearly  !  " 

"  Yes,  yes 

There  was  silence  between  them  after  that,  and  Jean,  glanc- 
ing at  Maurice,  saw  that  his  eyes  were  closing  and  he  was 
about  to  fall. 

"  Hallo  there,  old  fellow  !  Come,  confound  it  all,  brace 
up !  Let  me  take  your  gun  a  moment ;  that  will  give  you  a 
chance  to  rest.  They  can't  have  the  cruelty  to  make  us  march 
any  further  to-day  !  we  shall  leave  half  our  men  by  the  road- 
side." 

At  that  moment  he  caught  sight  of  Osches  lying  straight 
ahead  of  them,  its  few  poor  hovels  climbing  in  straggling 
fashion  up  the  hillside,  and  the  yellow  church,  embowered  in 
trees,  looking  down  on  them  from  its  perch  upon  the  summit. 

"  There's  where  we  shall  rest,  for  certain." 

He  had  guessed  aright  ;  General  Douay  saw  the  exhausted 
condition  of  the  troops,  and  was  convinced  that  it  would  be 
useless  to  attempt  to  reach  la  Besace  that  day.  What  particu- 
larly influenced  his  determination,  however,  was  the  arrival  of 
the  train,  that  ill-starred  train  that  had  been  trailing  in  his 


120  THE  DOWNFALL 

rear  since  they  left  Rheims,  and  of  which  the  nine  long  miles 
of  vehicles  and  animals  had  so  terribly  impeded  his  move- 
ments. He  had  given  instructions  from  Quatre-Champs  to 
direct  it  straight  on  Saint-Pierremont,  and  it  was  not  until 
Osches  that  the  teams  came  up  with  the  corps,  in  such  a 
state  of  exhaustion  that  the  horses  refused  to  stir.  It  was 
now  five  o'clock  ;  the  general,  not  liking  the  prospect  of  at- 
tempting the  pass  of  Stonne  at  that  late  hour,  determined  to 
take  the  responsibility  of  abridging  the  task  assigned  them  by 
the  marshal.  The  corps  was  halted  and  proceeded  to  encamp  ; 
the  train  below  in  the  meadows,  guarded  by  a  division,  while 
the  artillery  took  position  on  the  hills  to  the  rear,  and  the 
brigade  detailed  to  act  as  rear-guard  on  the  morrow  rested  on 
a  height  facing  Saint-Pierremont.  The  other  division,  which 
included  Bourgain-Desfeuilles'  brigade,  bivouacked  on  a  wide 
plateau,  bordered  by  an  oak  wood,  behind  the  church. 
There  was  such  confusion  in  locating  the  bodies  of  troops 
that  it  was  dark  before  the  io6th  could  move  into  its  position 
at  the  edge  of  the  wood. 

"Zut!"  said  Chouteau  in  a  furious  rage,  "no  eating  for 
me  ;  I  want  to  sleep  !  " 

And  that  was  the  cry  of  all ;  they  were  overcome  with 
fatigue.  Many  of  them  lacked  strength  and  courage  to  erect 
their  tents,  but  dropping  where  they  stood,  at  once  fell  fast 
asleep  on  the  bare  ground.  In  order  to  eat,  moreover,  rations 
would  have  been  necessary,  and  the  commissary  wagons, 
which  were  waiting  for  the  yth  corps  to  come  to  them  at  la 
Besace,  could  not  well  be  at  Osches  at  the  same  time.  In  the 
universal  relaxation  of  order  and  system  even  the  customary 
corporal's  call  was  omitted  :  it  was  everyone  for  himself. 
There  were  to  be  no  more  issues  of  rations  from  that  time 
forth  ;  the  soldiers  were  to  subsist  on  the  provisions  they  were 
supposed  to  carry  in  their  knapsacks,  and  that  evening  the 
sacks  were  empty  ;  few  indeed  were  those  who  could  muster 
a  crust  of  bread  or  some  crumbs  of  the  abundance  in  which 
they  had  been  living  at  Vouziers  of  late.  There  was  coffee, 
and  those  who  were  not  too  tired  made  and  drank  it  without 
sugar. 

When  Jean  thought  to  make  a  division  of  his  wealth  by  eat- 
ing one  of  his  biscuits  himself  and  giving  the  other  to  Maurice, 
he  discovered  that  the  latter  was  sound  asleep.  He  thought 
at  first  he  would  awake  him,  but  changed  his]  mind  and  stoic- 
ally replaced  the  biscuits  in  his  sack,  concealing  them  with  as 


THE  DOWNFALL  12 1 

much  caution  as  if  they  had  been  bags  of  gold  ;  he  could  get 
along  with  coffee,  like  the-rest  of  the  boys.  He  had  insisted 
on  having  the  tent  put  up,  and  they  were  all  stretched  on  the 
ground  beneath  its  shelter  when  Loubet  returned  from  a 
foraging  expedition,  bringing  in  some  carrots  that  he  had 
found  in  a  neighboring^field.  As  there  was  no  fire  to  cook  them 
by  they  munched  them  raw,  but  the  vegetables  only  served  to 
aggravate  their  hunger,  and  they  made  Pache  ill. 

"  No,  no  ;  let  him  sleep,"  said  Jean  to  Chouteau,  who  was 
shaking  Maurice  to  wake  him  and  give  him  his  share. 

"  Ah,"  Lapoulle  broke  in,  "we  shall  be  at  Angouleme  to- 
morrow, and  then  we'll  have  some  bread.  I  had  a  cousin  in 
the  army  once,  who  was  stationed  at  Angouleme.  Nice  garri- 
son, that." 

They  all  looked  surprised,  and  Chouteau  exclaimed  : 

"  Angouleme — what  are  you  talking  about  !  Just  listen  to 
the  bloody  fool,  saying  he  is  at  Angouleme  !  " 

It  was  impossible  to  extract  any  explanation  from  Lapoulle. 
He  had  insisted  that  morning  that  the  uhlans  that  they  sighted 
were  some  of  Bazaine's  troops. 

Then  darkness  descended  on  the  camp,  black  as  ink,  silent 
as  death.  Notwithstanding  the  coolness  of  the  night  air  the 
men  had  not  been  permitted  to  make  fires ;  the  Prussians 
were  known  to  be  only  a  few  miles  away,  and  it  would 
not  do  to  put  them  on  the  alert ;  orders  even  were  transmitted 
in  a  hushed  voice.  The  officers  had  notified  their  men  before 
retiring  that  the  start  would  be  made  at  about  four  in  the  morn- 
ing, in  order  that  they  might  have  all  the  rest  possible,  and  all 
had  hastened  to  turn  in  and  were  sleeping  greedily,  forgetful 
of  their  troubles.  Above  the  scattered  camps  the  deep  respi- 
ration of  all  those  slumbering  crowds,  rising  upon  the  stillness 
of  the  night,  was  like  the  long-drawn  breathing  of  old  Mother 
Earth. 

Suddenly  a  shot  rang  out  in  the  darkness  and  aroused  the 
sleepers.  It  was  about  three  o'clock,  and  the  obscurity  was 
profound.  Immediately  everyone  was  on  foot,  the  alarm 
spread  through  the  camp  ;  it  was  supposed  the  Prussians  were 
attacking.  It  was  only  Loubet  who,  unable  to  sleep  longer, 
had  taken  it  in  his  head  to  make  a  foray  into  the  oak-wood, 
which  he  thought  gave  promise  of  rabbits  :  what  a  jolly  good 
lark  it  would  be  if  he  could  bring  in  a  pair  of  nice  rabbits  for 
the  comrades'  breakfast !  But  as  he  was  looking  about  for  a 
favorable  place  in  which  to  conceal  himself,  he  heard  the 


122  THE  DOWNFALL 

sound  of  voices  and  the  snapping  of  dry  branches  under 
heavy  footsteps  ;  men  were  coming  toward  him  ;  he  took 
alarm  and  discharged  his  piece,  believing  the  Prussians  were 
at  hand.  Maurice,  Jean,  and  others  came  running  up  in  haste, 
when  a  hoarse  voice  made  itself  heard  : 

"  For  God's  sake,  don't  shoot  ! " 

And  there  at  the  edge  of  the  wood  stood  a  tall,  lanky  man, 
whose  thick,  bristling  beard  they  could  just  distinguish  in  the 
darkness.  He  wore  a  gray  blouse,  confined  at  the  waist  by  a 
red  belt,  and  carried  a  musket  slung  by  a  strap  over  his  shoul- 
der. He  hurriedly  explained  that  he  was  French,  a  sergeant 
of  francs-tireurs,  and  had  come  with  two  of  his  men  from  the 
wood  of  Dieulet,  bringing  important  information  for  the 
general. 

"  Hallo  there,  Cabasse  !  Ducat  !  "  he  shouted,  turning  his 
head,  "  hallo  !  you  infernal  poltroons,  come  here  !  " 

The  men  were  evidently  badly  scared,  but  they  came  for- 
ward. Ducat,  short  and  fat,  with  a  pale  face  and  scanty  hair  ; 
Cabasse  short  and  lean,  with  a  black  face  and  a  long  nose  not 
much  thicker  than  a  knife-blade. 

Meantime  Maurice  had  stepped  up  and  taken  a  closer  look 
at  the  sergeant  ;  he  finally  asked  him: 

"  Tell  me,  are  you  not  Guillaume  Sambuc,  of  Remilly  ?" 

And  when  the  man  hesitatingly  answered  in  the  affirmative 
Maurice  recoiled  a  step  or  two,  for  this  Sambuc  had  the  repu- 
tation of  being  a  particularly  hard  case,  the  worthy  son  of  a 
family  of  woodcutters  who  had  all  gone  to  the  bad,  the 
drunken  father  being  found  one  night  lying  by  the  roadside 
with  his  throat  cut,  the  mother  and  daughter,  who  lived  by 
begging  and  stealing,  having  disappeared,  most  likely,  in  the 
seclusion  of  some  penitentiary.  He,  William,  did  a  little  in  the 
poaching  and  smuggling  lines,  and  only  one  of  that  litter  of 
wolves'  whelps  had  grown  up  to  be  an  honest  man,  and  that 
was  Prosper,  the  hussar,  who  had  gone  to  work  on  a  farm  be- 
fore he  was  conscripted,  because  he  hated  the  life  of  the  forest. 

"  I  saw  your  brother  at  Vouziers,"  Maurice  continued  ;  "  he 
is  well." 

Sambuc  made  no  reply.     To  end  the  situation  he  said: 

"  Take  me  to  the  general.  Tell  him  that  the  francs-tireurs 
of  the  wood  of  Dieulet  have  something  important  to  say  to 
him." 

On  the  way  back  to  the  camp  Maurice  reflected  on  those 
free  companies  that  had  excited  such  great  expectations  at  the 


THE   DOWNFALL  123 

time  of  their  formation,  and  had  since  been  the  object  of  such 
bitter  denunciation  throughout  the  country.  Their  professed 
purpose  was  to  wage  a  sort  of  guerilla  warfare,  lying  in  am- 
bush behind  hedges,  harassing  the  enemy,  picking  off  his 
sentinels,  holding  the  woods,  from  which  not  a  Prussian  was 
to  emerge  alive;  while  the  truth  of  the  matter  was  that  they 
had  made  themselves  the  terror  of  the  peasantry,  whom  they  / 
failed  utterly  to  protect  and  whose  fields  they  devastated./ 
Every  ne'er-do-well  who  hated  the  restraints  of  the  regular 
service  made  haste  to  join  their  ranks,  well  pleased  with  the 
chance  that  exempted  him  from  discipline  and  enabled  him  to 
lead  the  life  of  a  tramp,  tippling  in  pothouses  and  sleeping  by 
the  roadside  at  his  own  sweet  will.  Some  of  the  companies 
were  recruited  from  the  very  worst  material  imaginable. 

<£  Hallo  there,  Cabasse  !  Ducat  !"  Sambuc  was  constantly 
repeating,  turning  to  his  henchmen  at  every  step  he  took, 
"  Come  along,  will  you,  you  snails!" 

Maurice  was  as  little  charmed  with  the  two  men  as  with  their 
leader.  Cabasse,  the  little  lean  fellow,  was  a  native  of  Toulon, 
had  served  as  waiter  in  a  cafe  at  Marseilles,  had  failed  at  Sedan 
as  a  broker  in  southern  produce,  and  finally  had  brought  up  in  a 
police-court,  where  it  came  near  going  hard  with  him,  in  con- 
nection with  a  robbery  of  which  the  details  were  suppressed. 
Ducat,  the  little  fat  man,  quondam  huissier  at  Blainville,  where 
he  had  been  forced  to  sell  out  his  business  on  account  of  a 
malodorous  woman  scrape,  had  recently  been  brought  face  to 
face  with  the  court  of  assizes  for  an  indiscretion  of  a  similar 
nature  at  Raucourt,  where  he  was  accountant  in  a  factory. 
The  latter  quoted  Latin  in  his  conversation,  while  the  other 
could  scarcely  read,  but  the  two  were  well  mated,  as  unpre- 
possessing a  pair  as  one  could  expect  to  meet  in  a  summer's 
day. 

The  camp  was  already  astir  ;  Jean  and  Maurice  took  the 
francs-tireurs  to  Captain  Beaudoin,  who  conducted  them  to 
the  quarters  of  Colonel  Vineuil.  The  colonel  attempted  to 
question  them,  but  Sambuc,  intrenching  himself  in  his  dignity, 
refused  to  speak  to  anyone  except  the  general.  Now  Bour- 
gain-Desfeuilles  had  taken  up  his  quarters  that  night  with  the 
cure  of  Osches,  and  just  then  appeared,  rubbing  his  eyes,  in 
the  doorway  of  the  parsonage  ;  he  was  in  a  horribly  bad 
humor  at  his  slumbers  having  been  thus  prematurely  cut  short, 
and  the  prospect  that  he  saw  before  him  of  another  day  of 
famine  and  fatigue  ;  hence  his  reception  of  the  men  who  were 


124  THE   DOWNFALL 

brought  before  him  was  not  exactly  lamblike.  Who  were  they? 
Whence  did  they  come  ?  What  did  they  want  ?  Ah,  some  of 
those  francs-tireurs  gentlemen — eh  !  Same  thing  as  skulkers 
and  riff-raff! 

"  General,"  Sambuc  replied,  without  allowing  himself  to  be 
disconcerted,  "  we  and  our  comrades  are  stationed  in  the 
woods  of  Dieulet " 

"  The  woods  of  Dieulet — where's  that  ?  " 

"  Between  Stenay  and  Mouzon,  General." 

"  What  do  I  know  of  your  Stenay  and  Mouzon  ?  Do  you 
expect  me  to  be  familiar  with  all  these  strange  names  ?  " 

The  colonel  was  distressed  by  his  chief's  display  of  igno- 
rance ;  he  hastily  interfered  to  remind  him  that  Stenay  and 
Mouzon  were  on  the  Meuse,  and  that,  as  the  Germans  had 
occupied  the  former  of  those  towns,  the  army  was  about  to 
attempt  the  passage  of  the  river  at  the  other,  which  was  situ- 
ated more  to  the  northward. 

"  So  you  see,  General,"  Sambuc  continued,  "  we've  come 
to  tell  you  that  the  woods  of  Dieulet  are  alive  with  Prussians. 
There  was  an  engagement  yesterday  as  the  5th  corps  was 
leaving  Bois-les-Dames,  somewhere  about  Nonart " 

"  What,  yesterday  ?     There  was  fighting  yesterday  ?" 

"  Yes,  General,  the  5th  corps  was  engaged  as  it  was  fall- 
ing back  ;  it  must  have  been  at  Beaumont  last  night.  So, 
while  some  of  us  hurried  off  to  report  to  it  the  movements  of 
the  enemy,  we  thought  it  best  to  come  and  let  you  know  how 
matters  stood,  so  that  you  might  go  to  its  assistance,  for  it 
will  certainly  have  sixty  thousand  men  to  deal  with  in  the 
morning." 

General  Bourgain-Desfeuilles  gave  a  contemptuous  shrug  of 
his  shoulders. 

"  Sixty  thousand  men  !  Why  the  devil  don't  you  call  it  a 
hundred  thousand  at  once  ?  You  were  dreaming,  young  man  ; 
your  fright  has  made  you  see  double.  It  is  impossible  there 
should  be  sixty  thousand  Germans  so  near  us  without  our 
knowing  it." 

And  so  he  went  on.  It  was  to  no  purpose  that  Sambuc 
appealed  to  Ducat  and  Cabasse  to  confirm  his  state- 
ment. 

"  We  saw  the  guns,"  the  Provencal  declared  ;  "  and  those 
chaps  must  be  crazy  to  take  them  through  the  forest,  where 
the  rains  of  the  past  few  days  have  left  the  roads  in  such  a 
state  that  they  sink  in  the  mud  up  to  the  hubs." 


THE  DOWNFALL  125 

"  They  have  someone  to  guide  them,  for  certain,"  said  the 
ex-bailiff.  / 

Since  leaving  Vouziers  the  general  had  stoutly  refused  to 
attach  any  further  credit  to  reports  of  the  junction  of  the  two 
German  armies  which,  as  he  said,  they  had  been  trying  to 
stuff  down  his  throat.  He  did  not  even  consider  it  worth  his 
while  to  send  the  francs-tireurs  before  his  corps  commander,  to 
whom  the  partisans  supposed,  all  along,  that  they  were  talking; 
if  they  should  attempt  to  listen  to  all  the  yarns  that  were 
brought  them  by  tramps  and  peasants,  they  would  have  their 
hands  full  and  be  driven  from  pillar  to  post  without  ever 
advancing  a  step.  He  directed  the  three  men  to  remain  with 
the  column,  however,  since  they  were  acquainted  with  the 
country. 

"  They  are  good  fellows,  all  the  same,"  Jean  said  to  Mau- 
rice, as  they  were  returning  to  fold  the  tent,  "  to  have  tramped 
three  leagues  across  lots  to  let  us  know." 

The  young  man  agreed  with  him  and  commended  their 
action,  knowing  as  he  did  the  country,  and  deeply  alarmed  to 
hear  that  the  Prussians  were  in  Dieulet  forest  and  moving  on 
Sommanthe  and  Beaumont.  He  had  flung  himself  down  by 
the  roadside,  exhausted  before  the  march  had  commenced, 
with  a  sorrowing  heart  and  an  empty  stomach,  at  the  dawning 
of  that  day  which  he  felt  was  to  be  so  disastrous  for  them  all. 
Distressed  to  see  him  looking  so  pale,  the  corporal  affection- 
ately asked  him  : 

"  Are  you  feeling  so  badly  still?  What  is  it?  Does  your 
foot  pain  you  ? " 

Maurice  shook  his  head.  His  foot  had  ceased  to  trouble 
him,  thanks  to  the  big  shoes. 

"  Then  you  are  hungry."  And  Jean,  seeing  that  he  did  not 
answer,  took  from  his  knapsack  one  of  the  two  remaining  bis- 
cuits, and  with  a  falsehood  for  which  he  may  be  forgiven  : 
"  Here,  take  it  ;  I  kept  your  share  for  you.  I  ate  mine  a 
while  ago." 

Day  was  breaking  when  the  yth  corps  marched  out  of  Osches 
en  route  for  Mouzon  by  way  of  la  Besace,  where  they  should 
have  bivouacked.  The  train,  cause  of  so  many  woes,  had  been 
sent  on  ahead,  guarded  by  the  first  division,  and  if  its  own 
wagons,  well  horsed  as  for  the  most  part  they  were,  got  over 
the  ground  at  a  satisfactory  pace,  the  requisitioned  vehicles, 
most  of  them  empty,  delayed  the  troops  and  produced  sad  con- 
fusion among  the  hills  of  the  defile  of  Stonne.  After  leaving 


126  THE  DOWNFALL 

the  hamlet  of  la  Berliere  the  road  rises  more  sharply  between 
wooded  hills  on  either  side.  Finally,  about  eight  o'clock,  the 
two  remaining  divisions  got  under  way,  when  Marshal  Mac- 
Mahon  came  galloping  up,  vexed  to  find  there  those  troops  that 
he  supposed  had  left  la  Besace  that  morning,  with  only  a  short 
march  between  them  and  Mouzon ;  his  comment  to  General 
Douay  on  the  subject  was  expressed  in  warm  language.  It 
was  determined  that  the  first  division  and  the  train  should  be 
allowed  to  proceed  on  their  way  to  Mouzon,  but  that  the  two 
other  divisions,  that  they  might  not  be  further  retarded  by  this 
cumbrous  advance-guard,  should  move  by  the  way  of  Rau- 
court  and  Autrecourt  so  as  to  pass  the  Meuse  at  Villers. 
The  movement  to  the  north  was  dictated  by  the  marshal's  in- 
tense anxiety  to  place  the  river  between  his  army  and  the 
enemy  ;  cost  what  it  might,  they  must  be  on  the  right  bank 
that  night.  The  rear-guard  had  not  yet  left  Osches  when  a 
Prussian  battery,  recommencing  the  performance  of  the  previ- 
ous day,  began  to  play  on  them  from  a  distant  eminence,  over 
in  the  direction  of  Saint-Pierremont.  They  made  the  mistake 
of  firing  a  few  shots  in  reply  ;  then  the  last  of  the  troops  filed 
out  of  the  town. 

Until  nearly  eleven  o'clock  the  io6th  slowly  pursued  its 
way  along  the  road  which  zigzags  through  the  pass  of  Stonhe 
between  high  hills.  On  the  left  hand  the  precipitous  summits 
rear  their  heads,  devoid  of  vegetation,  while  to  the  right  the 
gentler  slopes  are  clad  with  woods  down  to  the  roadside.  The 
sun  had  come  out  again,  and  the  heat  was  intense  down  in  the 
inclosed  valley,  where  an  oppressive  solitude  prevailed.  After 
leaving  la  Berliere,  which  lies  at  the  foot  of  a  lofty  and  deso- 
late mountain  surmounted  by  a  Calvary,  there  is  not  a  house 
to  be  seen,  not  a  human  being,  not  an  animal  grazing  in  the 
meadows.  And  the  men,  the  day  before  so  faint  with  hunger, 
so  spent  with  fatigue,  who  since  that  time  had  had  no  food  to 
restore,  no  slumber,  to  speak  of,  to  refresh  them,  were  now 
dragging  themselves  listlessly  along,  disheartened,  filled  with 
sullen  anger. 

Soon  after  that,  just  as  the  men  had  been  halted  for  a  short 
rest  along  the  roadside,  the  roar  of  artillery  was  heard  away 
at  their  right  ;  judging  from  the  distinctness  of  the  detona- 
tions the  firing  could  not  be  more  than  two  leagues  distant. 
Upon  the  troops,  weary  with  waiting,  tired  of  retreating,  the 
effect  was  magical  ;  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  everyone  was 
pn  his  feet,  eager,  in  a  quiver  of  excitement,  no  longer  mind- 


THE   DOWNFALL  127 

ful  of  his  hunger  and  fatigue  :  why  did  they  not  advance  ? 
They  preferred  to  fight,  to  die,  rather  than  keep  on  flying  thus, 
no  one  knew  why  or  whither. 

General  Bourgain-Desfeuilles,  accompanied  by  Colonel  de 
Vineuil,  had  climbed  a  hill  on  the  right  to  reconnoiter  the 
country.  They  ?re  visible  up  there  in  a  little  clearing  be- 
tween two  belts  of  wood,  scanning  the  surrounding  hills  with 
their  field-glasses,  when  all  at  once  they  dispatched  an  aide- 
de-camp  to  the  column,  with  instructions  to  send  up  to  them 
the  francs-tireurs  if  they  were  still  there.  A  few  men,  Jean 
and  Maurice  among  them,  accompanied  the  latter,  in  case  there 
should  be  need  of  messengers. 

"  A  beastly  country  this,  with  its  everlasting  hills  and 
woods  !  "  the  general  shouted,  as  soon  as  he  caught  sight  of 
Sambuc.  "You  hear  the  music — where  is  it?  where  is  the 
fighting  going  on  ?  " 

Sambuc.  with  Ducat  and  Cabasse  close  at  his  heels,  listened 
a  moment  before  he  answered,  casting  his  eye  over  the  wide 
horizon,  and  Maurice,  standing  beside  him  and  gazing  out 
over  the  panorama  of  valley  and  forest  that  lay  beneath  him, 
was  struck  with  admiration.  It  was  like  a  boundless  sea, 
whose  gigantic  waves  had  been  arrested  by  some  mighty  force. 
In  .the  foreground  the  somber  verdure  of  the  woods  made 
splashes  of  sober  color  on  the  yellow  of  the  fields,  while  in  the 
brilliant  sunlight  the  distant  hills  were  bathed  in  purplish 
vapors.  And  while  nothing  was  to  be  seen,  not  even  the 
tiniest  smoke-wreath  floating  on  the  cloudless  sky,  the  cannon 
were  thundering  away  in  the  distance,  like  the  muttering  of  a 
rising  storm. 

"  Here  is  Sommanthe,  to  the  right,"  Sambuc  said  at  last, 
pointing  to  a  high  hill  crowned  by  a  wood.  "  Yoncq  lies  off 
yonder  to  the  left.  The  fighting  is  at  Beaumont,  General." 

"  Either  at  Varniforet  or  Beaumont,"  Ducat  observed. 

The  general  muttered  below  his  breath :  "  Beaumont, 
Beaumont — a  man  can  never  tell  where  he  is  in  this  d — d 
country."  Then  raising  his  voice:  "And  how  far  may  this 
Beaumont  be  from  here  ?  " 

"  A  little  more  than  six  miles,  if  you  take  the  road  from 
Chene  to  Stenay,  which  runs  up  the  valley  yonder." 

There  was  no  cessation   of  the  firing,  which  seemed  to  be 
advancing  from  west  to  east  with  a   continuous  succession   of 
reports  like  peals  of  thunder.     Sambuc  added  : 
'"Bigre  !  it's  getting  warm.     It  is  just  what  I  expected  ;  yoii 


128  THE  DOWNFALL 

know  what  I  told  you  this  morning,  General  ;  it  is  certainly 
the  batteries  that  we  saw  in  the  wood  of  Dieulet.  By  this 
time  the  whole  army  that  came  up  through  Buzancy  and  Beau- 
clair  is  at  work  mauling  the  5th  corps." 

There  was  silence  among  them,  while  the  battle  raging  in 
the  distance  growled  more  furiously  than  ev^r,  and  Maurice 
had  to  set  tight  his  teeth  to  keep  himself  from  speaking  his 
mind  aloud.  Why  did  they  not  hasten  whither  the  guns  were 
calling  them,  without  such  waste  of  words  ?  He  had  never 
known  what  it  was  to  be  excited  thus  ;  every  discharge  found 
an  echo  in  his  bosom 'and  inspired  him  with  a  fierce  longing  to 
be  present  at  the  conflict,  to  put  an  end  to  it.  Were  they  to 
pass  by  that  battle,  so  near  almost,  that  they  could  stretch 
forth  their  arm  and  touch  it  with  their  hand,  and  never  expend 
a  cartridge  ?  It  must  be  to  decide  a  wager  that  some  one  had 
made,  that  since  the  beginning  of  the  campaign  they  were  j 
dragged  about  the  country  thus,  always  flying  before  the 
enemy  !  At  Vouziers  they  had  heard  the  musketry  of  the  rear-  j 
guard,  at  Osches  the  German  guns  had  played  a  moment  on 
their  retreating  backs  ;  and  now  they  were  to  run  for  it  again, 
they  were  not  to  be  allowed  to  advance  at  double-quick  to  j 
the  succor  of  comrades  in  distress  !  Maurice  looked  at 
Jean,  who  was  also  very  pale,  his  eyes  shining  with  a  bright, 
feverish  light.  Every  heart  leaped  in  every  bosom  at  the  loud 
summons  of  the  artillery. 

While  they  were  waiting  a  general,  attended  by  his  staff, 
was  seen  ascending  the  narrow  path  that  wound  up  the  hill. 
It  was  Douay,  their  corps-commander,  who  came  hastening  up, 
with  anxiety  depicted  on  his  countenance,  and  when  he  had 
questioned  the  francs-tireurs  he  gave  utterance  to  an  exclama- 
tion of  despair.  But  what  could  he  have  done,  even  had  he 
learned  their  tidings  that  morning  ?  The  marshal's  orders 
were  explicit :  they  must  be  across  the  Meuse  that  night,  cost  j 
what  it  might.  And  then  again,  how  was  he  to  collect  his 
scattered  troops,  strung  out  along  the  road  to  Raucourt,  and 
direct  then  on  Beaumont?  Could  they  arrive  in  time  to  be  of  j 
use?  The  5th  corps  must  be  in  full  retreat  on  Mouzon  i 
by  that  time,  as  was  indicated  by  the  sound  of  the  firing, 
which  was  receding  more  and  more  to  the  eastward,  as  a 
deadly  hurricane  moves  off  after  having  accomplished  its  dis- 
astrous work.  With  a  fierce  gesture,  expressive  of  his  sense 
of  impotency,  General  Douay  outstretched  his  arms  toward 
the  wide  horizon  of  hill  and  dale,  of  woods  and  fields,  and 


THE  DOWNFALL  129 

the  order  went  forth  to  proceed  with  the  march  to  Rau- 
court. 

Ah,  what  a  march  was  that  through  that  dismal  pass  of 
Stonne,  with  the  lofty  summits  o'erhanging  them  on  either 
side,  while  through  the  woods  on  their  right  came  the  inces- 
sant volleying  of  the  artillery.  Colonel  de  Vineuil  rode  at  the 
head  of  his  regiment,  bracing  himself  firmly  in  his  saddle,  his 
face  set  and  very  pale,  his  eyes  winking  like  those  of  one  try- 
ing not  to  weep.  Captain  Beaudoin  strode  along  in  silence, 
gnawing  his  mustache,  while  Lieutenant  Rochas  let  slip  an 
occasional  imprecation,  invoking  ruin  and  destruction  on  him- 
self and  everyone  besides.  Even  the  most  cowardly  among 
the  men,  those  who  had  the  least  stomach  for  fighting,  were 
shamed  and  angered  by  their  continuous  retreat ;  they  felt  the 
bitter  humiliation  of  turning  their  backs  while  those  beasts  of 
Prussians  were  murdering  their  comrades  over  yonder. 

After  emerging  from  the  pass  the  road,  from  a  tortuous  path 
among  the  hills,  increased  in  width  and  led  through  a  broad 
stretch  of  level  country,  dotted  here  and  there  with  small 
woods.  The  io6th  was  now  a  portion  of  the  rear-guard,  and 
at  every  moment  since  leaving  Osches  had  been  expecting  to 
feel  the  enemy's  attack,  for  the  Prussians  were  following  the 
column  step  by  step,  never  letting  it  escape  their  vigilant  eyes, 
waiting,  doubtless,  for  a  favorable  opportunity  to  fall  on  its 
rear.  Their  cavalry  were  on  the  alert  to  take  advantage  of 
any  bit  of  ground  that  promised  them  an  opportunity  of  get- 
ting in  on  our  flank  ;  several  squadrons  of  Prussian  Guards 
were  seen  advancing  from  behind  a  wood,  but  they  gave  up 
their  purpose  upon  a  demonstration  made  by  a  regiment  of 
our  hussars,  who  came  up  at  a  gallop,  sweeping  the  road. 
Thanks  to  the  breathing-spell  afforded  them  by  this  circum- 
stance the  retreat  went  on  in  sufficiently  good  order,  and  Rau- 
court  was  not  far  away,  when  a  spectacle  greeted  their  eyes 
that  filled  them  with  consternation  and  completely  demoral- 
ized the  troops.  Upon  coming  to  a  cross-road  they  suddenly 
caught  sight  of  a  hurrying,  straggling,  flying  throng,  wounded 
officers,  soldiers  without  arms  and  without  organization,  run- 
away teams  from  the  train,  all — men  and  animals— mingled  in 
wildest  confusion,  wild  with  panic.  It  was  the  wreck  of  one 
of  the  brigades  of  the  ist  division,  which  had  been  sent  that 
morning  to  escort  the  train  to  Mouzon  ;  there  had  been  an 
unfortunate  misconception  of  orders,  and  this  brigade  and  a 
portion  of  the  wagons  had  taken  a  wrong  road  and  reached 


130  THE  DOWNFALL 

Varniforet,  near  Beaumont,  at  the  very  time  when  the  5th 
corps  was  being  driven  back  in  disorder.  Taken  unawares, 
overborne  by  the  flank  attack  of  an  enemy  superior  in  num- 
bers, they  had  fled  ;  and  bleeding,  with  haggard  faces,  crazed 
with  fear,  were  now  returning  to  spread  consternation  among 
their  comrades  ;  it  was  as  if  they  had  been  wafted  thither  on 
the  breath  of  the  battle  that  had  been  raging  incessantly 
since  noon. 

Alarm  and  anxiety  possessed  everyone,  from  highest  to 
lowest,  as  the  column  poured  through  Raucourt  in  wild  stam- 
pede. Should  they  turn  to  the  left,  toward  Autrecourt,  and 
attempt  to  pass  the  Meuse  at  Villers,  as  had  been  previously 
decided  ?  The  general  hesitated,  fearing  to  encounter  diffi- 
culties in  crossing  there,  even  if  the  bridge  were  not  already 
in  possession  of  the  Prussians  ;  he  finally  decided  to  keep 
straight  on  through  the  defile  of  Harancourt  and  thus  reach 
Remilly  before  nightfall.  First  Mouzon,  then  Villers,  and  last 
Remilly  ;  they  were  still  pressing  on  northward,  with  the  tramp 
of  the  uhlans  on  the  road  behind  them.  There  remained  scant 
four  miles  for  them  to  accomplish,  but  it  was  five  o'clock,  and 
the  men  were  sinking  with  fatigue.  They  had  been  under 
arms  since  daybreak,  twelve  hours  had  been  consumed  in 
advancing  three  short  leagues ;  they  were  harassed  and  fa- 
tigued as  much  by  their  constant  halts  and  the  stress  of  their 
emotions  as  by  the  actual  toil  of  the  march.  For  the  last  two 
nights  they  had  had  scarce  any  sleep  ;  their  hunger  had  been 
unappeased  since  they  left  Vouziers.  In  Raucourt  the  dis- 
tress was  terrible ;  men  fell  in  the  ranks  from  sheer  inanition. 

The  little  town  is  rich,  with  its  numerous  factories,  its  hand- 
some thoroughfare  lined  with  two  rows  of  well-built  houses,  and 
its  pretty  church  and  mairie;  but  the  night  before  Marshal 
MacMahon  and  the  Emperor  had  passed  that  way  with  their 
respective  staffs  and  all  the  imperial  household,  and  during 
the  whole  of  the  present  morning  the  entire  ist  corps  had 
been  streaming  like  a  torrent  through  the  main  street.  The 
resources  of  the  place  had  not  been  adequate  to  meet  the 
requirements  of  these  hosts  ;  the  shelves  of  the  bakers  and 
grocers  were  empty,  and  even  the  houses  of  the  bourgeois  had 
been  swept  clean  of  provisions ;  there  was  no  bread,  no  wine, 
no  sugar,  nothing  capable  of  allaying  hunger  or  thirst.  Ladies 
had  been  seen  to  station  themselves  before  their  doors  and 
deal  out  glasses  of  wine  and  cups  of  bouillon  until  cask  and 
kettle  alike  were  drained  of  their  last  drop.  And  so  there  was 


THE  DOWNFALL 


an  end,  and  when,  about  three  o'clock,  the  first  regiments  ot 
the  yth  corps  began  to  appear  the  scene  was  a  pitiful  one ;  the 
broad  street  was  filled  from  curb  to  curb  with  weary,  dust- 
stained  men,  dying  with  hunger,  and  there  was  not  a  mouth- 
ful of  food  to  give  them.  Many  of  them  stopped,  knocking 
at  doors  and  extending  their  hands  beseechingly  toward  win- 
dows, begging  for  a  morsel  of  bread,  and  women  were  seen  to 
cry  and  sob  as  they  motioned  that  they  could  not  help  them, 
that  they  had  nothing  left. 

At  the  corner  of  the  Rue  Dix-Potiers  Maurice  had  an  attack 
of  dizziness  and  reeled  as  if  about  to  fall.  To  Jean,  who  came 
hastening  up,  he  said  : 

"  No,  leave  me  ;  it  is  all  up  with  me.  I  may  as  well  die 
here  !  " 

He  had  sunk  down  upon  a  door-step.  The  corporal  spoke 
in  a  rough  tone  of  displeasure  assumed  for  the  occasion  : 

"  Norn  de  Dieu  !  why  don't  you  try  to  behave  like  a  soldier  ! 
Do  you  want  the  Prussians  to  catch  you  ?  Come,  get  up  !  " 

Then,  as  the  young  man,  lividly  pale,  his  eyes  tight-closed, 
almost  unconscious,  made  no  reply,  he  let  slip  another  oath, 
but  in  another  key  this  time,  in  a  tone  of  infinite  gentleness 
and  pity  : 

"/fan  de  Dieu  /  nom  de  Dieu  !  " 

And  running  to  a  drinking-fountain  near  by,  he  filled  his 
basin  with  water  and  hurried  back  to  bathe  his  friend's  face. 
Then,  without  further  attempt  at  concealment,  he  took  from 
his  sack  the  last  remaining  biscuit  that  he  had  guarded  with 
such  jealous  caution,  and  commenced  crumbling  it  into  small 
bits  that  he  introduced  between  the  other's  teeth.  The  famish- 
ing man  opened  his  eyes  and  ate  greedily. 

"  But  you,"  he  asked,  suddenly  recollecting  himself,  "  how 
comes  it  that  you  did  not  eat  it  ?  " 

"  Oh,  I  !  "  said  Jean.  "  I'm  tough,  I  can  wait.  A  good 
drink  of  Adam's  ale,  and  I  shall  be  all  right." 

He  went  and  filled  his  basin  again  at  the  fountain,  emptied 
it  at  a  single  draught,  and  came  back  smacking  his  lips  in 
token  of  satisfaction  with  his  feast.  He,  too,  was  cadaverously 
pale,  and  so  faint  with  hunger  that  his  hands  were  trembling 
like  a  leaf. 

"  Come,  get  up,  and  let's  be  going.  We  must  be  getting 
back  to  the  comrades,  little  one." 

Maurice  leaned  on  his  arm  and  suffered  himself  to  be 
helped  along  as  if  he  had  been  a  child  ;  never  had  woman's 


THE  DOWNFALL 

arm  about  him  so  warmed  his  heart.  In  that  extremity  of 
distress,  with  death  staring  him  in  the  face,  it  afforded  him  a 
deliciously  cheering  sense  of  comfort  to  know  that  someone 
loved  and  cared  for  him,  and  the  reflection  that  that  heart, 
which  was  so  entirely  his,  was  the  heart  of  a  simple-minded 
peasant,  whose  aspirations  scarcely  rose  above  the  satisfaction 
of  his  daily  wants,  for  whom  he  had  recently  experienced  a 
feeling  of  repugnance,  served  to  add  to  his  gratitude  a  sensa- 
tion of  ineffable  joy.  Was  it  not  the  brotherhood  that  had 
prevailed  in  the  world  in  its  earlier  days,  the  friendship  that 
had  existed  before  caste  and  culture  were  ;  that  friendship 
which  unites  two  men  and  makes  them  one  in  their  common 
need  of  assistance,'  in  the  presence  of  Nature,  the  common 
enemy  ?  He  felt  the  tie  of  humanity  uniting  him  and  Jean, 
and  was  proud  to  know  that  the  latter,  his  comforter  and  sa- 
vior, was  stronger  than  he  ;  while  to  Jean,  who  did  not  ana- 
lyze his  sensations,  it  afforded  unalloyed  pleasure  to  be  the 
instrument  of  protecting,  in  his  friend,  that  cultivation  and  in- 
telligence which,  in  himself,  were  only  rudimentary.  Since 
the  death  of  his  wife,  who  had  been  snatched  away  from  him 
by -a  frightful  catastrophe,  he  had  believed  that  his  heart  was 
dead,  he  had  sworn  to  have  nothing  more  to  do  with  those 
creatures,  who,  even  when  they  are  not  wicked  and  depraved,  are 
cause  of  so  much  suffering  to  man.  And  thus,  to  both  of  them 
their  friendship  was  a  comfort  and  relief.  There  was  no  need 
of  any  demonstrative  display  of  affection  ;  they  understood 
each  other  ;  there  was  close  community  of  sympathy  between 
them,  and,  notwithstanding  their  apparent  external  dissimilar- 
ity, the  bond  of  pity  and  common  suffering  made  them  as  one 
during  their  terrible  march  that  day  to  Remilly. 

As  the  French  rear-guard  left  Raucourt  by  one  end  of  the 
town  the  Germans  came  in  at  the  other,  and  forthwith  two  of 
their  batteries  commenced  firing  from  the  position  they  had 
taken  on  the  heights  to  the  left  ;  the  io6th,  retreating  along 
the  road  that  follows  the  course  of  the  Emmane,  was  directly 
in  the  line  of  fire.  A  shell  cut  down  a  poplar  on  the  bank  of 
the  stream  ;  another  came  and  buried  itself  in  the  soft  ground 
close  to  Captain  Beaudoin,  but  did  not  burst.  From  there  on 
to  Harancourt,  however,  the  walls  of  the  pass  kept  approach- 
ing nearer  and  nearer,  and  the  troops  were  crowded  together 
in  a  narrow  gorge  commanded  on  either  side  by  hills  cov- 
ered with  trees.  A  handful  of  Prussians  in  ambush  on  those 
heights  might  have  caused  incalculable  disaster.  With  the 


THE  DOWNFALL  133 

cannon  thundering  in  their  rear  and  the  menace  of  a  possible 
attack  on  either  flank,  the  men's  uneasiness  increased  with 
every  step  they  took,  and  they  were  in  haste  to  get  out  of 
such  a  dangerous  neighborhood  ;  hence  they  summoned  up 
their  reserved  strength,  and  those  soldiers  who,  but  now  in 
Raucourt,  had  scarce  been  able  to  drag  themselves  along, 
now,  with  the  peril  that  lay  behind  them  as  an  incentive, 
struck  out  at  a  good  round  pace.  The  very  horses  seemed 
to  be  conscious  that  the  loss  of  a  minute  might  cost  them 
dear.  And  the  impetus  thus  given  continued  ;  all  was  going 
well,  the  head  of  the  column  must  have  reached  Remilly, 
when,  all  at  once,  their  progress  was  arrested. 

"  Heavens  and  earth  !  "  said  Chouteau,  "  are  they  going  tc 
leave  us  here  in  the  road  ? " 

The  regiment  had  not  yet  reached  Harancourt,  and  the, 
shells  were  still  tumbling  about  them  ;  while  the  men  wert 
marking  time,  awaiting  the  word  to  go  ahead  again,  one  burs* 
on  the  right  of  the  column,  without  injuring  anyone,  fortu- 
nately. Five  minutes  passed,  that  seemed  to  them  long  as  an 
eternity,  and  still  they  did  not  move  ;  there  was  some  obstacle 
on  ahead  that  barred  their  way  as  effectually  as  if  a  strong 
wall  had  been  built  across  the  road.  The  colonel,  standing 
up  in  his  stirrups,  peered  nervously  to  the  front,  for  he  saw 
that  it  would  require  but  little  to  create  a  panic  among  his 
men. 

"  We  are  betrayed  ;  everybody  can  see  it,"  shouted  Chou- 
teau. 

Murmurs  of  reproach  arose  on  every  side,  the  sullen  mut- 
tering of  their  discontent  exasperated  by  their  fears.  Yes, 
yes  !  they  had  been  brought  there  to  be  sold,  to  be  delivered 
over  to  the  Prussians.  In  the  baleful  fatality  that  pursued 
them,  and  among  all  the  blunders  of  their  leaders,  those  dense 
intelligences  were  unable  to  account  for  such  an  uninter- 
rupted succession  of  disasters  on  any  other  ground  than  that 
of  treachery. 

"  We  are  betrayed  !  we  are  betrayed  !  "  the  men  wildly  re- 
peated. 

Then  Loubet's  fertile  intellect  evolved  an  idea  :  "  It  is 
like  enough  that  that  pig  of  an  Emperor  has  sat  himself  down 
in  the  road,  with  his  baggage,  on  purpose  to  keep  us  here." 

The  idle  fancy  was  received  as  true,  and  immediately  spread 
up  and  down  the  line  ;  everyone  declared  that  the  imperial 
household  had  blocked  the  road  and  was  responsible  for  the 


134  THE  DOWNFALL 

stoppage.  There  was  a  universal  chorus  of  execration,  of 
opprobrious  epithets,  an  unchaining  of  the  hatred  and  hos- 
tility that  were  inspired  by  the  insolence  of  the  Emperor's 
attendants,  who  took  possession  of  the  towns  where  they 
stopped  at  night  as  if  they  owned  them,  unpacking  their 
luxuries,  their  costly  wines  and  plate  of  gold  and  silver,  before 
the  eyes  of  the  poor  soldiers  who  were  destitute  of  every- 
thing, filling  the  kitchens  with  the  steam  of  savory  viancl^ 
while  they,  poor  devils,  had  nothing  for  it  but  to  tighten  the 
belt  of  their  trousers.  Ah  !  that  wretched  Emperor,  that 
miserable  man,  deposed  from  his  throne  and  stripped  of  his 
command,  a  stranger  in  his  own  empire  ;  whom  they  were 
conveying  up  and  down  the  country  along  with  the  other 
baggage,  like  some  piece  of  useless  furniture,  whose  doom  it 
was  ever  to  drag  behind  him  the  irony  of  his  imperial  state  : 
cent-gardes,  horses,  carriages,  cooks,  and  vans,  sweeping,  as  it 
were,  the  blood  and  mire  from  the  roads  of  his  defeat  with 
the  magnificence  of  his  court  mantle,  embroidered  with 
Lthe  heraldic  bees  ! 

In  rapid  succession,  one  after  the  other,  two  more  shells  fell  ; 
Lieutenant  Rochas  had  his  kepi  carried  away  by  a  fragment. 
The  men  huddled  closer  together  and  began  to  crowd  forward, 
the  movement  gathering  strength  as  it  ran  from  rear  to  front. 
Inarticulate  cries  were  heard,  Lapoulle  shouted  furiously  to  go 
ahead.  A  minute  longer  and  there  would  have  been  a  horri- 
ble catastrophe,  and  many  men  must  have  been  crushed  to 
death  in  the  mad  struggle  to  escape  from  the  funnel-like 
gorge. 

The  colonel — he  was  very  pale — turned  and  spoke  to  the 
soldiers  : 

"  My  children,  my  children,  be  a  little  patient.  I  have  sent 
to  see  what  is  the  matter — it  will  only  be  a  moment " 

But  they  did  not  advance,  and  the  seconds  seemed  like 
centuries.  Jean,  quite  cool  and  collected,  resumed  his  hold  of 
Maurice's  hand,  and  whispered  to  him  that,  in  case  their  com- 
rades began  to  shove,  they  two  could  leave  the  road,  climb  the 
hill  on  the  left,  and  make  their  way  to  the  stream.  He  looked 
about  to  see  where  the  francs-tireurs  were,  thinking  he  might 
gain  some  information  from  them  regarding  the  roads,  but 
was  told  they  had  vanished  while  the  column  was  passing 
through  Raucourt.  Just  then  the  march  was  resumed,  and 
almost  immediately  abend  in  the  road  took  them  out  of  range 
of  the  German  batteries.  Later  'in  the  day  it  was  ascertained 


THE  DOWNFALL  135 

that  it  was  four  cuirassier  regiments  of  Bonnemain's  division 
who,  in  the  disorder  of  that  ill-starred  retreat,  had  thus  blocked 
the  road  of  the  yth  corps  and  delayed  the  march. 

It  was  nearly  dark  when  the  io6th  passed  through  Ange- 
court.  The  wooded  hills  continued  on  the  right,  but  to  the 
left  the  country  was  more  level,  and  a  valley  was  visible  in  the 
distance,  veiled  in  bluish  mists.  At  last,  just  as  the  shades  of 
night  were  descending,  they  stood  on  the  heights  of  Remilly 
and  beheld  a  ribbon  of  pale  silver  unrolling  its  length  upon  a 
broad  expanse  of  verdant  plain.  It  was  the  Meuse,  that 
Meuse  they  had  so  longed  to  see, 'and  where  it  seemed  as 
if  victory  awaited  them. 

Pointing  to  some  lights  in  the  distance  that  were  beginning 
to  twinkle  cheerily  among  the  trees,  down  in  that  fertile  valley 
that  lay  there  so  peaceful  in  the  mellow  twilight,  Maurice 
said  to  Jean,  with  the  glad  content  of  a  man  revisiting  a  coun- 
try that  he  knows  and  loves  : 

"  Look  !  over  that  way— that  is  Sedan  !  " 


VII. 

REMILLY  is  built  on  a  hill  that  rises  from  the  left  bank  of 
the  Meuse,  presenting  the  appearance  of  an  amphitheater ; 
the  one  village  street  that  meanders  circuitously  down  the 
sharp  descent  was  thronged  with  men,  horses,  and  vehicles  in 
dire  confusion.  Half-way  up  the  hill,  in  front  of  the  church, 
some  drivers  had  managed  to  interlock  the  wheels  of  their 
guns,  and  all  the  oaths  and  blows  of  the  artillerymen  were 
unavailing  to  get  them  forward.  Further  down,  near  the 
woolen  mill,  where  the  Emmane  tumbles  noisily  over  the 
dam,  the  road  was  choked  with  a  long  line  of  stranded  bag- 
gage wagons,  while  close  at  hand,  at  the  inn  of  the  Maltese 
Cross;  a  constantly  increasing  crowd  of  angry  soldiers  pushed 
and  struggled,  and  could  not  obtain  so  much  as  a  glass  of 
wine. 

All  this  mad  hurly-burly  was  going  on  at  the  southern  end  of 
the  village,  which  is  here  separated  from  the  Meuse  by  a  little 
grove  of  trees,  and  where  the  engineers  had  that  morning 
stretched  a  bridge  of  boats  across  the  river.  There  was  a 
ferry  to  the  right;  the  ferryman's  house  stood  by  itself,  white 
and  staring,  amid  a  rank  growth  of  weeds.  Great  fires  had 
been  built  on  either  bank,  which,  being  replenished  from  time 


I36  THE  DOWNFALL 

to  time,  glared  ruddily  in  the  darkness  and  made  the  stream 
and  both  its  shores  as  light  as  day.  They  served  to  show  the 
immense  multitude  of  men  massed  there,  awaiting  a  chance  to 
cross,  while  the  footway  only  permitted  the  passage  of  two  men 
abreast,  and  over  the  bridge  proper  the  cavalry  and  artillery 
were  obliged  to  proceed  at  a  walk,  so  that  the  crossing  prom- 
ised to  be  a  protracted  operation.  It  was  said  that  the  troops 
still  on  the  left  bank  comprised  a  brigade  of  the  ist  corps,  an 
ammunition  train,  and  the  four  regiments  of  cuirassiers  belong- 
ing to  Bonnemain's  division,  while  coming  up  in  hot  haste 
behind  them  was  the  yth  corps,  over  thirty  thousand  strong, 
possessed  with  the  belief  that  the  enemy  was  at  their  heels  and 
pushing  on  with  feverish  eagerness  to  gain  the  security  of  the 
other  shore. 

For  a  while  despair  reigned.  What!  they  had  been  march- 
ing since  morning  with  nothing  to  eat,  they  had  summoned  up 
all  their  energies  to  escape  that  deadly  trap  at  Harancourt 
pass,  only  in  the  end  to  be  landed  in  that  slough  of  despond, 
with  an  insurmountable  wall  staring  them  in  the  face!  It 
would  be  hours,  perhaps,  before  it  became  the  last  comer's 
turn  to  cross,  and  everyone  knew  that  even  if  the  Prussians 
should  not  be  enterprising  enough  to  continue  their  pursuit  in 
the  darkness  they  would  be  there  with  the  first  glimpse  of  day- 
light. Orders  came  for  them  to  stack  muskets,  however,  and 
they  made  their  camp  on  the  great  range  of  bare  hills  which 
slope  downward  to  the  meadows  of  the  Meuse,  with  the 
Mouzon  road  running  at  their  base.  To  their  rear  and  occu- 
pying the  level  plateau  on  top  of  the  range  the  guns  of  the 
reserve  artillery  were  arranged  in  battery,  pointed  so  as  to 
sweep  the  entrance  of  the  pass  should  there  be  necessity  for  it. 
And  thus  commenced  another  period  of  agonized,  grumbling 
suspense. 

When  finally  the  preparations  were  all  completed  the  io6th 
found  themselves  posted  in  a  field  of  stubble  above  the  road, 
in  a  position  that  commanded  a  view  of  the  broad  plain.  The 
men  had  parted  regretfully  with  their  arms,  casting  timorous 
looks  behind  them  that  showed  they  were  apprehensive  of  a 
night  attack.  Their  faces  were  stern  and  set,  and  silence 
reigned,  only  broken  from  time  to  time  by  some  sullen  murmur 
of  angry  complaint.  It  was  nearly  nine  o'clock,  they  had  been 
there  two  hours,  and  yet  many  of  them,  notwithstanding  their 
terrible  fatigue,  could  not  sleep;  stretched  on  the  bare  ground, 
they  '"ould  start  and  bend  their  ears  to  catch  the  faintest  sound 


THE  DOWNFALL  137 

that  rose  in  the  distance.  They  had  ceased  to  fight  their  tor- 
turing hunger;  they  would  eat  over  yonder,  on  the  other  bank, 
when  they  had  passed  the  river;  they  would  eat  grass  if 
nothing  else  was  to  be  found.  The  crowd  at  the  bridge,  how- 
ever, seemed  to  increase  rather  than  diminish;  the  officers  that 
General  Douay  had  stationed  there  came  back  to  him  every 
few  minutes,  always  bringing  the  same  unwelcome  report,  that 
it  would  be  hours  and  hours  before  any  relief  could  be  ex- 
pected. Finally  the  general  determined  to  go  down  to  the 
bridge  in  person,  and  the  men  saw  him  on  the  bank,  bestirring 
himself  and  others  and  hurrying  the  passage  of  the  troops. " 

Maurice,  seated  with  Jean  against  a  wall,  pointed  to  the 
north,  as  he  had  done  before.  "There  is  Sedan  in  the  dis- 
tance. And  look !  Bazeilles  is  over  yonder — and  then  comes 
Douzy,  and  then  Carignan,  more  to  the  right.  We  shall  con- 
centrate at  Carignan,  I  feel  sure  we  shall.  Ah!  there  is 
plenty  of  room,  as  you  would  see  if  it  were  daylight!" 

And  his  sweeping  gesture  embraced  the  entire  valley  that 
lay  beneath  them,  enfolded  in  shadow.  There  was  sufficient 
light  remaining  in  the  sky  that  they  could  distinguish  the  pale 
gleam  of  the  river  where  it  ran  its  course  among  the  dusky 
meadows.  The  scattered  trees  made  clumps  of  denser  shade, 
especially  a  row  of  poplars  to  the  left,  whose  tops  were  profiled 
on  the  horizon  like  the  fantastic  ornaments  on  some  old  castle 
gateway.  And  in  the  background,  behind  Sedan,  dotted  with 
countless  little  points  of  brilliant  light,  the  shadows  had  mus- 
tered, denser  and  darker,  as  if  all  the  forests  of  the  Ardennes 
had  collected  the  inky  blackness  of  their  secular  oaks  and  cast 
it  there. 

Jean's  gaze  came  back  to  the  bridge  of  boats  beneath  them. 

"Look  there!  everything  is  against  us.  We  shall  never  get 
across." 

The  fires  upon  both  banks  blazed  up  more  brightly  just  then, 
and  their  light  was  so  intense  that  the  whole  fearful  scene  was 
pictured  on  the  darkness  with  vivid  distinctness.  The  boats 
on  which  the  longitudinal  girders  rested,  owing  to  the  weight 
of  the  cavalry  and  artillery  that  had  been  crossing  uninter- 
ruptedly since  morning,  had  settled  to  such  an  extent  that  the 
floor  of  the  bridge  was  covered  with  water.  The  cuirassiers 
were  passing  at  the  time,  two  abreast,  in  a  long  unbroken  file, 
emerging  from  the  obscurity  of  the  hither  shore  to  be  swal- 
lowed up  in  the  shadows  of  the  other,  and  nothing  was  to  be 
seen  of  the  bridge;  they  appeared  to  be  marching  on  the 


138  THE  DOWNFALL 

bosom  of  the  ruddy  stream,  that  flashed  and  danced  in  the 
flickering  firelight.  The  horses  snorted  and  hung  back,  mani- 
festing every  indication  of  terror  as  they  felt  the  unstable  path- 
way yielding  beneath  their  feet,  and  the  cuirassiers,  standing 
erect  in  their  stirrups  and  clutching  at  the  reins,  poured  onward 
in  a  steady,  unceasing  stream,  wrapped  in  their  great  white 
mantles,  their  helmets  flashing  in  the  red  light  of  the  flames. 
One  might  have  taken  them  for  some  spectral  band  of  knights, 
with  locks  of  fire,  going  forth  to  do  battle  with  the  powers  of 
darkness. 

Jean's  suffering  wrested  from  him  a  deep-toned  exclama- 
tion: 

"Oh!   I  am  hungry!" 

On  every  side,  meantime,  the  men,  notwithstanding  the 
complainings  of  their  empty  stomachs,  had  thrown  themselves 
down  to  sleep.  Their  fatigue  was  so  great  that  it  finally  got 
the  better  of  their  fears  and  struck  them  down  upon  the  bare 
earth,  where  they  lay  on  their  back,  with  open  mouth  and  arms 
outstretched,  like  logs  beneath  the  moonless  sky.  The  bustle 
of  the  camp  was  stilled,  and  all  along  the  naked  range,  from 
end  to  end,  there  reigned  a  silence  as  of  death. 

"Oh!  I  am  hungry;  I  am  so  hungry  that  I  could  eat 
dirt!" 

Jean,  patient  as  he  was  and  inured  to  hardship,  could  not 
restrain  the  cry;  he  had  eaten  nothing  in  thirty-six  hours,  and 
it  was  torn  from  him  by  sheer  stress  of  physical  suffering. 
Then  Maurice,  knowing  that  two  or  three  hours  at  all  events 
must  elapse  before  their  regiment  could  move  to  pass  the 
stream,  said: 

"See  here,  I  have  an  uncle  not  far  from  here — you  know, 
Uncle  Fouchard,  of  whom  you  have  heard  me  speak.  His 
house  is  five  or  six  hundred  yards  from  here;  I  didn't  like  the 

idea,  but  as  you  are  so  hungry The  deuce!  the  old  man 

can't  refuse  us  bread!" 

His  comrade  made  no  objection  and  they  went  off  together. 
Father  Fouchard's  little  farm  was  situated  just  at  the  mouth  of 
Harancourt  pass,  near  the  plateau  where  the  artillery  was 
posted.  The  house  was  a  low  structure,  surrounded  by  quite 
an  imposing  cluster  of  dependencies;  a  barn,  a  stable,  and 
cow-sheds,  while  across  the  road  was  a.  disused  carriage- house 
which  the  old  peasant  had  converted  into  an  abattoir,  where  he 
slaughtered  with  his  own  hands  the  cattle  which  he  afterward 
carried  about  the  country  in  his  wagon  to  his  customers. 


THE  DOWNFALL  139 

Maurice  was  surprised  as  he  approached  the  house  to  see  no 
light. 

"Ah,  the  old  miser!  he  has  locked  and  barred  everything 
tight  and  fast.  Like  as  not  he  won't  let  us  in." 

But  something  that  he  saw  brought  him  to  a  standstill. 
Before  the  house  a  dozen  soldiers  were  moving  to  and  fro, 
hungry  plunderers,  doubtless,  on  the  prowl  in  quest  of  some- 
thing to  eat.  First  they  had  called,  then  had  knocked,  and 
now,  seeing  that  the  place  was  dark  and  deserted,  they  were 
hammering  at  the  door  with  the  butts  of  their  muskets  in  an 
attempt  to  force  it  open.  A  growling  chorus  of  encourage- 
ment greeted  them  from  the  outsiders  of  the  circle. 

"  Nom  de  Dieu !  go  ahead!  smash  it  in,  since  there  is  no 
one  at  home!" 

All  at  once  the  shutter  of  a  window  in  the  garret  was  thrown 
back  and  a  tall  old  man  presented  himself,  bare-headed,  wear- 
ing the  peasant's  blouse,  with  a  candle  in  one  hand  and  a  gun 
in  the  other.  Beneath  the  thick  shock  of  bristling  white  hair 
was  a  square  face,  deeply  seamed  and  wrinkled,  with  a  strong 
nose,  large,  pale  eyes,  and  stubborn  chin. 

"You  must  be  robbers,  to  smash  things  as  you  are  doing!" 
he  shouted  in  an  angry  tone.  "What  do  you  want?" 

The  soldiers,  taken  by  surprise,  drew  back  a  little  way. 

"We  are  perishing  with  hunger;   we  want  something  to  eat." 

"I  have  nothing,  not  a  crust.  Do  you  suppose  that  I  keep 
victuals  in  my  house  to  fill  a  hundred  thousand  mouths? 
Others  were  here  before  you;  yes,  General  Ducrot's  men  were 
here  this  morning,  I  tell  you,  and  they  cleaned  me  out  of 
everything." 

The  soldiers  came  forward  again,  one  by  one. 

"Let  us  in,  all  the  same;  we  can  rest  ourselves,  and  you 
can  hunt  up  something " 

And  they  were  commencing  to  hammer  at  the  door  again, 
when  the  old  fellow,  placing  his  candle  on  the  window-sill, 
raised  his  gun  to  his  shoulder. 

"As  true  as  that  candle  stands  there,  I'll  put  a  hole  in  the 
first  man  that  touches  that  door!" 

The  prospect  looked  favorable  for  a  row.  Oaths  and 
imprecations  resounded,  and  one  of  the  men  was  heard  to 
shout  that  they  would  settle  matters  with  the  pig  of  a  peasant, 
who  was  like  all  the  rest  of  them  and  would  throw  his  bread  in 
the  river  rather  than  give  a  mouthful  to  a  starving  soldier. 
The  light  of  the  candle  glinted  on  the  barrels  of  the  chassepots 


140  THE    DOWNFALL 

as  they  were  brought  to  an  aim ;  the  angry  men  were  about  to 
shoot  him  where  he  stood,  while  he,  headstrong  and  violent, 
would  not  yield  an  inch. 

"Nothing,  nothing!  Not  a  crust/  I  tell  you  they  cleaned 
me  out!" 

Maurice  rushed  in  in  affright,  followed  by  Jean. 

"Comrades,  comrades ' 

He  knocked  up  the  soldiers'  guns,  and  raising  his  eyes,  said 
entreatingly : 

"Come,  be  reasonable.     Don't  you  know  me?     It  is  I." 

"Who,  I?" 

"Maurice  Levasseur,  your  nephew." 

Father  Fouchard  took  up  his  candle.  He  recognized  his 
nephew,  beyond  a  doubt,  but  was  firm  in  his  resolve  not  to 
give  so  much  as  a  glass  of  water. 

"How  can  I  tell  whether  you  are  my  nephew  or  not  in  this 
infernal  darkness?  Clear  out,  everyone  of  you,  or  I  will  fire ! ' ' 

And  amid  an  uproar  of  execration,  and  threats  to  bring. him 
down  and  burn  the  shanty,  he  still  had  nothing  to  say  but : 
"Clear  out,  or  I'll  fire!"  which  he  repeated  more  than  twenty 
times. 

Suddenly  a  loud  clear  voice  was  heard  rising  above  the  din : 

"But  not  on  me,  father?" 

The  others  stood  aside,  and  in  the  flickering  light  of  the 
candle  a  man  appeared,  wearing  the  chevrons  of  a  quarter- 
master-sergeant. It  was  Honore",  whose  battery  was  a  short 
two  hundred  yards  from  there  and  who  had  been  struggling  for 
the  last  two  hours  against  an  irresistible  longing  to  come  and 
knock  at  that  door.  He  had  sworn  never  to  set  foot  in  that 
house  again,  and  in  all  his  four  years  of  army  life  had  not 
exchanged  a  single  letter  with  that  father  whom  he  now  ad- 
dressed so  curtly.  The  marauders  had  drawn  apart  and  were 
conversing  excitedly  among  themselves;  what,  the  old  man's 
son,  and  a  "non-com."!  it  wouldn't  answer;  better  go  and 
try  their  luck  elsewhere!  So  they  slunk  away  and  vanished  in 
the  darkness. 

When  Fouchard  saw  that  he  had  nothing  more  to  fear  he 
said  in  a  matter-of-course  way,  as  if  he  had  seen  his  son  only 
the  day  before : 

"It's  you All  right,  I'll  come  down." 

His  descent  was  a  matter  of  time.  He  could  be  heard 
inside  the  house  opening  locked  doors  and  carefully  fastening 
them  again,  the  maneuvers  of  a  man  determined  to  leave 


THE  DOWNFALL  H* 

nothing  at  loose  ends.  At  last  the  door  was  opened,  but  only 
for  a  few  inches,  and  the  strong  grasp  that  held  it  would  let  it 
go  no  further. 

"Come  in,  thou !  and  no  one  besides!" 

He  could  not  turn  away  his  nephew,  however,  notwithstand- 
ing his  manifest  repugnance. 

"Well,  thou  too!" 

He  shut  the  door  flat  in  Jean's  face,  in  spite  of  Maurice's 
entreaties.  But  he  was  obdurate.  No,  no!  he  wouldn't  have 
it ;  he  had  no  use  for  strangers  and  robbers  in  his  house,  to 
smash  and  destroy  his  furniture!  Finally  Honore  shoved 
their  comrade  inside  the  door  by  main  strength  and  the  old 
man  had  to  make  the  best  of  it,  grumbling  and  growling  vin- 
dictively. He  had  carried  his  gun  with  him  all  this  time. 
When  at  last  he  had  ushered  the  three  men  into  the  common 
sitting-room  and  had  stood  his  gun  in  a  corner  and  placed  the 
candle  on  the  table,  he  sank  into  a  mulish  silence. 

"Say,  father,  we  are  perishing  with  hunger.  You  will  let  us 
have  a  little  bread  and  cheese,  won't  you?" 

He  made  a  pretense  of  not  hearing  and  did  not  answer, 
turning  his  head  at  every  instant  toward  the  window  as  if 
listening  for  some  other  band  that  might  be  coming  to  lay 
siege  to  his  house. 

"Uncle,  Jean  has  Been  a  brother  to  me;  he  deprived  him- 
self of  food  to  give  it  to  me.  And  we  have  seen  such  suffer- 
ing together!" 

He  turned  and  looked  about  the  room  to  assure  himself  that 
nothing  was  missing,  not  giving  the  three  soldiers  so  much  as 
a  glance,  and  at  last,  still  without  a.  word  spoken,  appeared  to 
come  to  a  decision.  He  suddenly  arose,  took  the  candle  and 
went  out,  leaving  them  in  darkness  and  carefully  closing  and 
locking  the  door  behind  him  in  order  that  no  one  might  follow 
him.  They  could  hear  his  footsteps  on  the  stairs  that  led  to 
the  cellar.  There  was  another  long  period  of  waiting,  and 
when  he  returned,  again  locking  and  bolting  everything  after 
him,  he  placed  upon  the  table  a  big  loaf  of  bread  and  a  cheese, 
amid  a  silence  which,  once  his  anger  had  blown  over,  was 
merely  the  result  of  cautious  cunning,  for  no  one  can  ever  tell 
what  may  come  of  too  much  talking.  The  three  men  threw 
themselves  ravenously  upon  the  food,  and  the  only  sound 
to  be  heard  in  the  room  was  the  fierce  grinding  of  their  jaws. 

Honore  rose,  and  going  to  the  sideboard  brought  back  a 
pitcher  of  water. 


142  THE  DOWNFALL 

"I  think  you  might  have  given  us  some  wine,  father." 

Whereupon  Fouchard,  now  master  of  himself  and  no  longer 
fearing  that  his  anger  might  lead  him  into  unguarded  speech, 
once  more  found  his  tongue. 

"Wine!  I  haven't  any,  not  a  drop!  The  others,  those 
fellows  of  Ducrot's,  ate  and  drank  all  I  had,  robbed  me  of 
everything!" 

He  was  lying,  and  try  to  conceal  it  as  he  might  the  shifty 
expression  in  his  great  light  eyes  showed  it.  For  the  past  two 
days  he  had  been  driving  away  his  cattle,  as  well  those  reserved 
for  work  on  the  farm  as  those  he  had  purchased  to  slaughter, 
and  hiding  them,  no  one  knew  where,  in  the  depths  of  some 
wood  or  in  some  abandoned  quarry,  and  he  had  devoted  hours 
to  burying  all  his  household  stores,  wine,  bread,  and  things  of 
the  least  value,  even  to  the  flour  and  salt,  .so  that  anyone  might 
have  ransacked  his  cupboards  and  been  none  the  richer  for  it. 
He  had  refused  to  sell  anything  to  the  first  soldiers  who  came 
along;  no  one  knew,  he  might  be  able  to  do  better  later  on; 
and  the  patient,  sly  old  curmudgeon  indulged  himself  with 
vague  dreams  of  wealth. 

Maurice,  who  was  first  to  satisfy  his  appetite,  commenced  to 
talk. 

"Have  you  seen  my  sister  Henrietta  Jately?" 

The  old  man  was  pacing  up  and  down  the  room,  casting  an 
occasional  glance  at  Jean,  who  was  bolting  huge  mouthfuls  of 
bread ;  after  apparently  giving  the  subject  long  consideration 
he  deliberately  answered: 

"Henriette,  yes,  I  saw  her  last  month  when  I  was  in  Sedan. 
But  I  saw  Weiss,  her  husband,  this  morning.  He  was  with 
Monsieur  Delaherche,  his  boss,  who  had  come  over  in  his  car- 
riage to  see  the  soldiers  at  Mouzon — which  is  the  same  as  say- 
ing that  they  were  out  for  a  good  time." 

An  expression  of  intense  scorn  flitted  over  the  old  peasant's 
impenetrable  face. 

"Perhaps  they  saw  more  of  the  army  than  they  wanted  to, 
and  didn't  have  such  a  very  good  time  after  all,  for  ever  since 
three  o'clock  the  roads  have  been  impassable  on  account  of 
the  crowds  of  flying  soldiers." 

In  the  same  unmoved  voice,  as  if  the  matter  were  one  of 
perfect  indifference  to  him,  he  gave  them  some  tidings  of  the 
defeat  of  the  5th  corps,  that  had  been  surprised  at  Beaumont 
while  the  men  were  making  their  soup  and  chased  by  the 
Bavarians  all  the  way  to  Mouzon.  Some  fugitives  who  had 


THE   DOWNFALL  143 

passed  through  Remilly,  mad  with  terror,  had  told  him  that 
they  had  been  betrayed  once  more  and  that  de  Failly  had  sold 
them  to  Bismarck.  Maurice's  thoughts  reverted  to  the  aim- 
less, blundering  movements  of  the  last  two  days,  to  Marshal 
MacMahon  hurrying  on  their  retreat  and  insisting  on  getting 
them  across  the  Meuse  at  every  cost,  after  wasting  so  many 
precious  hours  in  incomprehensible  delays.  It  was  too  late. 
Doubtless  the  marshal,  who  had  stormed  so  on  Ending  the  yth 
corps  still  at  Osches  when  he  supposed  it  to  be  at  la  Besace, 
had  felt  assured  that  the  5th  corps  was  safe  in  camp  at  Mouzon 
when,  lingering  in  Beaumont,  it  had  come  to  grief  there.  But 
what  could  they  expect  from  troops  so  poorly  officered,  demor- 
alized by  suspense  and  incessant  retreat,  dying  with  hunger 
and  fatigue? 

Fouchard  had  finally  come  and  planted  himself  behind 
Jean's  chair,  watching  with  astonishment  the  inroads  he  was 
making  on  the  bread  and  cheese.  In  a  coldly  sarcastic  tone  he 
asked : 

"Are  you  beginning  to  feel  better,  hem?  " 

The  corporal  raised  his  head  and  replied  with  the  same 
peasant-like  directness: 

"Just  beginning,  thank  you!" 

Honore,  notwithstanding  his  hunger,  had  ceased  from  eating 
whenever  it  seemed  to  him  that  he  heard  a  noise  about  the 
house.  If  he  had  struggled  long,  and  finally  been  false  to  his 
oath  never  to  set  foot  in  that  house  again,  the  reason  was  that 
he  could  no  longer  withstand  his  craving  desire  to  see  Silvine. 
The  letter  that  he  had  received  from  her  at  Rheims  lay  on  his 
bosom,  next  his  skin,  that  letter,  so  tenderly  passionate,  in 
which  she  told  him  that  she  loved  him  still,  that  she  should 
never  love  anyone  save  him,  despite  the  cruel  past,  despite 
Goliah  and  little  Chariot,  that  man's  child.  He  was  thinking  of 
naught  save  her,  was  wondering  why  he  had  not  seen  her  yet, 
all  the  time  watching  himself  that  he  might  not  let  his  father 
see  his  anxiety.  At  last  his  passion  became  too  strong  for 
him,  however,  and  he  asked  in  a  tone  as  natural  as  he  could 
command: 

"Is  not  Silvine  with  you  any  longer?" 

Fouchard  gave  his  son  a  glance  out  of  the  corner  of  his  eye, 
chuckling  internally. 

"Yes,  yes." 

Then  he  expectorated  and  was  silent,  so  that  the  artillery- 
man had  presently  to  broach  the  subject  again, 


144  THE  DOWNFALL 

"She  has  gone  to  bed,  then?" 

"No,  no." 

Finally  the  old  fellow  condescended  to  explain  that  he,  too, 
had  been  taking  an  outing  that  morning,  had  driven  over  to 
Raucourt  market  in  his  wagon  and  taken  his  little  servant  with 
him.  He  saw  no  reason,  because  a  lot  of  soldiers  happened 
to  pass  that  way,  why  folks  should  cease  to  eat  meat  or  why  a 
man  should  not  attend  to  his  business,  so  he  had  taken  a  sheep 
and  a  quarter  of  beef  over  there,  as  it  was  his  custom  to  do 
every  Tuesday,  and  had  just  disposed  of  the  last  of  his  stock- 
in-trade  when  up  came  the  yth  corps  and  he  found  himself  in 
the  middle  of  a  terrible  hubbub.  Everyone  was  running, 
pushing,  and  crowding.  Then  he  became  alarmed  lest  they 
should  take  his  horse  and  wagon  from  him,  and  drove  off, 
leaving  his  servant,  who  was  just  then  making  some  purchases 
in  the  town. 

"Oh,  Silvine  will  come  back  all  right,"  he  concluded  in  his 
tranquil  voice.  "She  must  have  taken  shelter  with  Doctor 
Dalichamp,  her  godfather.  You  would  think  to  look  at  her 
that  she  wouldn't  dare  to  say  boo  to  a  goose,  but  she  is  a  girl 
of  courage,  all  the  same.  Yes,  yes;  she  has  lots  of  good 
qualities,  Silvine  has." 

Was  it  an  attempt  on  his  part  to  be  jocose?  or  did  he  wish  to 
explain  why  it  was  he  kept  her  in  his  service,  that  girl  who 
had  caused  dissension  between  father  and  son,  whose  child  by 
the  Prussian  was  in  the  house?  He  again  gave  his  boy  that 
sidelong  look  and  laughed  his  voiceless  laugh. 

"Little  Chariot  is  asleep  there  in  his  room ;  she  surely  won't 
be  long  away,  now." 

Honore,  with  quivering  lips,  looked  so  intently  at  his  father 
that  the  old  man  began  to  pace  the  floor  again.  Mon  Dieu! 
yes,  the  child  was  there;  doubtless  he  would  have  to  look  on 
him.  A  painful  silence  filled  the  room,  while  he  mechanically 
cut  himself  more  bread  and  began  to  eat  again.  Jean  also 
continued  his  operations  in  that  line,  without  finding  it  neces- 
sary to  say  a  word.  Maurice  contemplated  the  furniture,  the 
old  sideboard,  the  antique  clock,  and  reflected  on  the  long 
summer  days  that  he  had  spent  at  Remilly  in  bygone  times 
with  his  sister  Henriette.  The  minutes  slipped  away,  the  clock 
struck  eleven. 

"The  devil!"  he  murmured,  "it  will  never  do  to  let  the 
regiment  go  off  without  us!" 

He  stepped  to  the  window  and  opened  it,  Fouchard  making 


THE  DOWNFALL  14$ 

no  objection.  Beneath  lay  the  valley,  a  great  bowl  filled  to 
the  brim  with  blackness;  presently,  however,  when  his  eyes 
became  more  accustomed  to  the  obscurity,  he  had  no  difficulty 
in  distinguishing  the  bridge,  illuminated  by  the  fires  on  the 
two  banks.  The  cuirassiers  were  passing  still,  like  phantoms 
in  their  long  white  cloaks,  while  their  steeds  trod  upon  the 
bosom  of  the  stream  and  a  chill  wind  of  terror  breathed  on 
them  from  behind ;  and  so  the  spectral  train  moved  on,  appar- 
ently interminable,  in  an  endless,  slow-moving  vision  of 
unsubstantial  forms.  Toward  the  right,  over  the  bare  hills 
where  the  slumbering  army  lay,  there  brooded  a  stillness  and 
repose  like  death. 

"Ah  well!"  said  Maurice  with  a  gesture  of  disappointment, 
"  'twill  be  to-morrow  morning." 

He  had  left  the  window  open,  and  Father  Fouchard,  seizing 
his  gun,  straddled  the  sill  and  stepped  outside,  as  lightly  as  a 
young  man.  For  a  time  they  could  hear  his  tramp  upon  tha 
road,  as  regular  as  that  of  a  sentry  pacing  his  beat,  but  pres- 
ently it  ceased  and  the  only  sound  that  reached  their  ears  was 
the  distant  clamor  on  the  crowded  bridge;  it  must  be  that  he 
had  seated  himself  by  the  wayside,  where  he  could  watch  fo* 
approaching  danger  and  at  slightest  sign  leap  to  defend  his 
property. 

Honore's  anxiety  meantime  was  momently  increasing;  his 
eyes  were  fixed  constantly  on  the  clock.  It  was  less  than  four 
miles  from  Raucourt  to  Remilly,  an  easy  hour's  walk  for  a 
woman  as  young  and  strong  as  Silvine.  Why  had  she  not 
returned  in  all  that  time  since  the  old  man  lost  sight  of  her  in 
the  confusion?  He  thought  of  the  disorder  of  a  retreating 
army  corps,  spreading  over  the  country  and  blocking  the 
roads;  some  accident  must  certainly  have  happened,  and  he 
pictured  her  in  distress,  wandering  among  the  lonely  fields, 
trampled  under  foot  by  the  horsemen. 

But  suddenly  the  three  men  rose  to  their  feet,  moved  by  a 
common  impulse.  There  was  a  sound  of  rapid  steps  coming 
up  the  road  and  the  old  man  was  heard  to  cock  his  weapon. 

"Who  goes  there?"  he  shouted.     "Is  it  you,  Silvine?" 

There  was  no  reply.  He  repeated  his  question,  threatening 
to  fire.  Then  a  laboring,  breathless  voice  managed  to  articu- 
late: 

"Yes,  yes,  Father  Fouchard;  it  is  I."  And  she  quickly 
asked:  "And  Chariot?" 

"He  is  abed  and  asleep,  " 


146  THE  DOWNFALL 

"That  is  well!     Thanks." 

There  was  no  longer  cause  fpr  her  to  hasten;  she  gave 
utterance  to  a  deep-drawn  sigh,  as  if  to  rid  herself  of  her 
burden  of  fatigue  and  distress. 

"Go  in  by  the  window,"  said  Fouchard.  "There  is  com- 
pany in  there." 

She  was  greatly  agitated  when,  leaping  lightly  into  the  room, 
she  beheld  the  three  men.  In  the  uncertain  candle-light  she 
gave  the  impression  of  being  very  dark,  with  thick  black  hair 
and  a  pair  of  large,  fine,  lustrous  eyes,  the  chief  adornment  of 
a  small  oval  face,  strong  by  reason  of  its  tranquil  resignation. 
The  sudden  meeting  with  Honore  had  sent  all  the  blood  rush- 
ing from  her  heart  to  her  cheeks ;  and  yet  she  was  hardly  sur- 
prised to  find  him  there;  he  had  been  in  her  thoughts  all  the 
way  home  from  Raucourt. 

He,  trembling  with  agitation,  his  heart  in  his  throat,  spoke 
with  affected  calmness : 

"Good-evening,  Silvine." 

"Good-evening,  Honore." 

Then,  to  keep  from  breaking  down  and  bursting  into  tears, 
she  turned  away,  and  recognizing  Maurice,  gave  him  a  smile. 
Jean's  presence  was  embarrassing  to  her.  She  felt  as  if  she 
were  choking  somehow,  and  removed  the  foulard  that  she  wore 
about  her  neck. 

Honore"  continued,  dropping  the  friendly  thou  of  other  days: 

"We  were  anxious  about  you,  Silvine,  on  account  of  the 
Prussians  being  so  near  at  hand." 

All  at  once  her  face  became  very  pale  and  showed  great  dis- 
tress; raising  her  hand  to  her  eyes  as  if  to  shut  out  some 
atrocious  vision,  and  directing  an  involuntary  glance  toward 
the  room  where  Chariot  was  slumbering,  she  murmured: 

"The  Prussians Oh!   yes,  yes,  I  saw  them." 

Sinking  wearily  upon  a  chair  she  told  how,  when  the  yth 
corps  came  into  Raucourt,  she  had  fled  for  shelter  to  the  house 
of  her  godfather,  Doctor  Dalichamp,  hoping  that  Father 
Fouchard  would  think  to  come  and  take  her  up  before  he  left 
the  town.  The  main  street  was  filled  with  a  surging  throng,  so 
dense  that  not  even  a  dog  could  have  squeezed  his  way  through 
it,  and  up  to  four  o'clock  she  had  felt  no  particular  alarm, 
tranquilly  employed  in  scraping  lint  in  company  with  some  of 
the  ladies  of  the  place;  for  the  doctor,  with  the  thought  that 
they  might  be  called  on  to  care  for  some  of  the  wounded,  should 
there  be  a  battle  over  in  the  direction  of  Metz  and  Verdun,  had 


THE  DOWNFALL  14? 

been  busying  himself  for  the  last  two  weeks  with  improvising 
a  hospital  in  the  great  hall  of  the  mairie.  Some  people  who 
dropped  in  remarked  that  they  might  find  use  for  their  hospital 
sooner  than  they  expected,  and  sure  enough,  a  little  after  mid- 
day, the  roar  of  artillery  had  reached  their  ears  from  over  Beau- 
mont way.  But  that  was  not  near  enough  to  cause  anxiety  and 
no  one  was  alarmed,  when,  all  at  once,  just  as  the  last  of  the 
French  troops  were  filing  out  of  Raucourt,  a  shell,  with  a 
frightful  crash,  came  tearing  through  the  roof  of  a  neighboring 
house.  Two  others  followed  in  quick  succession ;  it  was  a 
German  battery  shelling  the  rear-guard  of  the  yth  corps. 
Some  of  the  wounded  from  Beaumont  had  already  been 
brought  in  to  the  mairie,  where  it  was  feared  that  the  enemy's 
projectiles  would  finish  them  as  they  lay  on  their  mattresses 
waiting  for  the  doctor  to  come  and  operate  on  them.  The 
men  were  crazed  with  fear,  and  would  have  risen  and  gone 
down  into  the  cellars,  notwithstanding  their  mangled  limbs, 
which  extorted  from  them  shrieks  of  agony. 

"And  then,"  continued  Silvine,  "I  don't  know  how  it  hap- 
pened, but  all  at  once  the  uproar  was  succeeded  by  a  deathlike 
stillness.  I  had  gone  upstairs  and  was  looking  from  a  window 
that  commanded  a  view  of  the  street  and  fields.  There  was 
not  a  soul  in  sight,  not  a  'red-leg'  to  be  seen  anywhere,  when 
I  heard  the  tramp,  tramp  of  heavy  footsteps,  and  then  a  voice 
shouted  something  that  I  could  not  understand  and  all  the 
muskets  came  to  the  ground  together  with  a  great  crash.  And 
I  looked  down  into  the  street  below,  and  there  was  a  crowd  of 
small,  dirty-looking  men  in  black,  with  ugly,  big  faces  and 
wearing  helmets  like  those  our  firemen  wear.  Someone  told 
me  they  were  Bavarians.  Then  I  raised  my  eyes  again  and 
saw,  oh!  thousands  and  thousands  of  them,  streaming  in  by 
the  roads,  across  the  fields,  through  the  woods,  in  serried, 
never-ending  columns.  In  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  the  ground 
was  black  with  them,  a  black  swarm,  a  swarm  of  black  locusts, 
coming  thicker  and  thicker,  so  that,  in  no  time  at  all,  the  earth 
was  hid  from  sight." 

She  shivered  and  repeated  her  former  gesture,  veiling  her 
vision  from  some  atrocious  spectacle. 

"And  the  things  that  occurred  afterward  would  exceed 
belief.  It  seems  those  men  had  been  marching  three  days, 
and  on  top  of  that  had  fought  at  Beaumont  like  tigers ;  hence 
they  were  perishing  with  hunger,  their  eyes  were  starting  from 
their  seckets,  they  were  beside  themselves.  The  officers  made 


148  THE  DOWNFALL 

no  effort  to  restrain  them;  they  broke  into  shops  and  private 
houses,  smashing"  doors  and  windows,  demolishing  furniture, 
searching  for  something  to  eat  and  drink,  no  matter  what,  bolt- 
ing whatever  they  could  lay  their  hands  on.  I  saw  one  in  the 
shop  of  Monsieur  Simonin,  the  grocer,  ladling  molasses  from 
a  cask  with  his  helmet.  Others  were  chewing  strips  of  raw 
bacon,  others  again  had  filled  their  mouths  with  flour.  They 
were  told  that  our  troops  had  been  passing  through  the  town 
for  the  last  two  days  and  there  was  nothing  left,  but  here  and 
there  they  found  some  trifling  store  that  had  been  hid  away, 
not  sufficient  to  feed  so  many  hungry  mouths,  and  that  made 
them  think  the  folks  were  lying  to  them,  and  they  went  on  to 
smash  things  more  furiously  than  ever.  In  less  than  an  hour 
there  was  not  a  butcher's,  grocer's,  or  baker's  shop  in  the  city 
left  ungutted;  even  the  private  houses  were  entered,  their 
cellars  emptied,  and  their  closets  pillaged.  At  the  doctor's — 
did  you  ever  hear  of  such  a  thing?  I  caught  one  big  fellow 
devouring  the  soap.  But  the  cellar  was  the  place  where  they 
did  most  mischief;  we  could  hear  them  from  upstairs  smash- 
ing the  bottles  and  yelling  like  demons,  and  they  drew  the 
spigots  of  the  casks,  so  that  the  place  was  flooded  with  wine; 
when  they  came  out  their  hands  were  red  with  the  good  wine 
they  had  spilled.  And  to  show  what  happens  men  when  they 
make  such  brutes  of  themselves :  a  soldier  found  a  large  bottle 
of  laudanum  and  drank  it  all  down,  in  spite  of  Monsieur 
Dalichamp's  efforts  to  prevent  him.  The  poor  wretch  was  in 
horrible  agony  when  I  came  away ;  he  must  be  dead  by  this 
time." 

A  great  shudder  ran  through  her,  and  she  put  her  hand  to 
her  eyes  to  shut  out  the  horrid  sight. 

"No,  no!     I  cannot  bear  it;   I  saw  too  much!" 

Father  Fouchard  had  crossed  the  road  and  stationed  him- 
self at  the  open  window  where  he  could  hear,  and  the  tale  of 
pillage  made  him  uneasy ;  he  had  been  told  that  the  Prussians 
paid  for  all  they  took;  were  they  going  to  start  out  as  robbers 
at  that  late  day?  Maurice  and  Jean,  too,  were  deeply  inter- 
ested in  those  details  about  an  enemy  whom  the  girl  had  seen, 
and  whom  they  had  not  succeeded  in  setting  eyes  on  in  their 
whole  month's  campaigning,  while  Honore,  pensive  and  with 
dry,  parched  lips,  was  conscious  only  of  the  sound  of  her 
voice;  he  could  think  of  nothing  save  her  and  the  misfortune 
that  had  parted  them. 

Just  then  the  door  of  the  adjoining  room  was  opened,  and 


DOWNFALL  149 

little  Chariot  appeared.  He  had  heard  his  mother's  voice, 
and  came  trotting  into  the  apartment  in  his  nightgown  to  give 
her  a  kiss.  He  was  a  chubby,  pink  little  urchin,  large  and 
strong  for  his  age,  with  a  thatch  of  curling,  straw-colored  hair 
and  big  blue  eyes.  Silvine  shivered  at  his  sudden  appearance, 
as  if  the  sight  of  him  had  recalled  to  her  mind  the  image  of 
someone  else  that  affected  her  disagreeably.  Did  she  no 
longer  recognize  him,  then,  her  darling  child,  thai  she  looked 
at  him  thus,  as  if  he  were  some  evocation  of  that  horrid  night- 
mare! She  burst  into  tears. 

"My  poor,  poor  child!"  she  exclaimed,  and  clasped  him 
wildly  to  her  breast,  while  Honore,  ghastly  pale,  noted  how 
strikingly  like  the  little  one  was  to  Goliah ;  the  same  broad, 
pink  face,  the  true  Teutonic  type,  in  all  the  health  and 
strength  of  rosy,  smiling  childhood.  The  son  of  the  Prussian, 
the  Prussian,  as  the  pothouse  wits  of  Remilly  had  styled  him! 
And  the  French  mother,  who  sat  there,  pressing  him  to  her 
bosom,  her  heart  still  bleeding  with  the  recollection  of  the 
cruel  sights  she  had  witnessed  that  day ! 

"My  poor  child,  be  good;  come  with  me  back  to  bed.  Say 
good-night,  my  poor  child." 

She  vanished,  bearing  him  away.  When  she  returned  from 
the  adjoining  room  she  was  no  longer  weeping;  her  face  wore 
its  customary  expression  of  calm  and  courageous  resignation. 

It  was  Honore  who,  with  a  trembling  voice,  started  the 
conversation  again. 

"And  what  did  the  Prussians  do  then?" 

"Ah,  yes;  the  Prussians.  Well,  they  plundered  right  and 
left,  destroying  everything,  eating  and  drinking  all  they  could 
lay  hands  on.  They  stole  linen  as  well,  napkins  and  sheets, 
and  even  curtains,  tearing  them  in  strips  to  make  bandages  for 
their  feet.  I  saw  some  whose  feet  were  one  raw  lump  of  flesh, 
so  long  and  hard  had  been  their  march.  One  little  group  I 
saw,  seated  at  the  edge  of  the  gutter  before  the  doctor's  house, 
who  had  taken  off  their  shoes  and  were  bandaging  themselves 
with  handsome  chemises,  trimmed  with  lace,  stolen,  doubtless, 
from  pretty  Madame  Lefevre,  the  manufacturer's  wife.  The 
pillage  went  on  until  night.  The  houses  had  no  doors  or  win- 
dows left,  and  one  passing  in  the  street  could  look  within  and 
see  the  wrecked  furniture,  a  scene  of  destruction  that  would 
have  aroused  the  anger  of  a  saint.  For  my  part,  I  was  almost 
wild,  and  could  remain  there  no  longer.  They  tried  in  vain  to 
keep  me,  telling  me  that  the  roads  were  blocked,  that  I  would 


150  THE  DOWNFALL 

certainly  be  killed;  I  started,  and  as  soon  as  I  was  out  of 
Raucourt,  struck  off  to  the  right  and  took  to  the  fields.  Carts, 
loaded  with  wounded  French  and  Prussians,  were  coming  in 
from  Beaumont.  Two  passed  quite  close  to  me  in  the  dark- 
ness; I  could  hear  the  shrieks  and  groans,  and  I  ran,  oh!  how 
I  ran,  across  fields,  through  woods,  I  could  not  begin  to  tell 
you  where,  except  that  I  made  a  wide  circuit  over  toward 
Villers. 

"Twice  I  thought  I  heard  soldiers  coming  and  hid,  but  the 
only  person  I  met  was  another  woman,  a  fugitive  like  myself. 
She  was  from  Beaumont,  she  said,  and  she  told  me  things  too 
horrible  to  repeat.  After  that  we  ran  harder  than  ever.  And 
at  last  I  am  here,  so  wretched,  oh !  so  wretched  with  what  I 
have  seen !" 

Her  tears  flowed  again  in  such  abundance  as  to  choke  her 
utterance.  The  horrors  of  the  day  kept  rising  to  her  memory 
and  would  not  down;  she  related  the  story  that  the  woman  of 
Beaumont  had  told  her.  That  person  lived  in  the  main  street 
of  the  village,  where  she  had  witnessed  the  passage  of  all  the 
German  artillery  after  nightfall.  The  column  was  accompa- 
nied on  either  side  of  the  road  by  a  file  of  soldiers  bearing 
torches  of  pitch-pine,  which  illuminated  the  scene  with  the  red 
glare  of  a  great  conflagration,  and  between  the  flaring,  smok- 
ing lights  the  impetuous  torrent  of  horses,  guns,  and  men  tore 
onward  at  a  mad  gallop.  Their  feet  were  winged  with  the  tire- 
less speed  of  victory  as  they  rushed  on  in  devilish  pursuit  of 
the  French,  to  overtake  them  in  some  last  ditch  and  crush 
them,  annihilate  them  there.  They  stopped  for  nothing;  on, 
on  they  went,  heedless  of  what  lay  in  their  way.  Horses  fell; 
their  traces  were  immediately  cut,  and  they  were  left  to  be 
ground  and  torn  by  the  pitiless  wheels  until  they  were  a  shape- 
less, bleeding  mass.  Human  beings,  prisoners  and  wounded 
men,  who  attempted  to  cross  the  road,  were  ruthlessly  borne 
down  and  shared  their  fate.  Although  the  men  were  dying 
with  hunger  the  fierce  hurricane  poured  on  unchecked;  was  a 
loaf  thrown  to  the  drivers,  they  caught  it  flying;  the  torch- 
bearers  passed  slices  of  meat  to  them  on  the  end  of  their  bayo- 
nets, and  then,  with  the  same  steel  that  had  served  that  purpose, 
goaded  their  maddened  horses  on  to  further  effort.  And  the 
night  grew  old,  and  still  the  artillery  was  passing,  with  the 
mad  roar  of  a  tempest  let  loose  upon  the  land,  amid  the  fran- 
tic cheering  of  the  men. 

Maurice's  fatigue  was  too  much  for  him,  and  notwithstand- 


THE   DOWNFALL  151 

ing  the  interest  with  which  he  listened  to  Silvine's  narrative, 
after  the  substantial  meal  he  had  eaten  he  let  his  head  decline 
upon  the  table  on  his  crossed  arms.  Jean's  resistance  lasted  a 
little  longer,  but  presently  he  too  was  overcome  and  fell  dead 
asleep  at  the  other  end  of  the  table.  Father  Fouchard  had 
gone  and  taken  his  position  in  the  road  again;  Honore  was 
alone  with  Silvine,  who  was  seated,  motionless,  before  the 
still  open  window. 

The  artilleryman  rose,  and  drawing  his  chair  to  the  win- 
dow, stationed  himself  there  beside  her.  The  deep  peaceful- 
ness  of  the  night  was  instinct  with  the  breathing  of  the  multi- 
tude that  lay  lost  in  slumber  there,  but  on  it  now  rose  other 
and  louder  sounds;  the  straining  and  creaking  of  the  bridge, 
the  hollow  rumble  of  wheels;  the  artillery  was  crossing  on  the 
half-submerged  structure.  Horses  reared  and  plunged  in  ter- 
ror at  sight  of  the  swift-running  stream,  the  wheel  of  a  caisson 
ran  over  the  guard-rail ;  immediately  a  hundred  strong  arms 
seized  the  encumbrance  and  hurled  the  heavy  vehicle  to  the 
bottom  of  the  river  that  it  might  not  obstruct  the  passage. 
And  as  the  young  man  watched  the  slow,  toilsome  retreat 
along  the  opposite  bank,  a  movement  that  had  commenced  the 
day  before  and  certainly  would  not  be  ended  by  the  coming 
dawn,  he  could  not  help  thinking  of  that  other  artillery  that 
had  gone  storming  through  Beaumont,  bearing  down  all  before 
it,  crushing  men  and  horses  in  its  path  that  it  might  not  be 
delayed  the  fraction  of  a  second. 

Honore  drew  his  chair  nearer  to  Silvine,  and  in  the  shud- 
dering darkness,  alive  with  all  those  sounds  of  menace,  gently 
whispered : 

"You  are  unhappy?" 

"Oh!  yes;   so  unhappy!" 

She  was  conscious  of  the  subject  on  which  he  was  about  to 
speak,  and  her  head  sank  sorrowfully  on  her  bosom. 

"Tell  me,  how  did  it  happen?     I  wish  to  know." 

But  she  could  not  find  words  to  answer  him. 

"Did  he  take  advantage  of  you,  or  was  it  with  your  con- 
sent?" 

Then  she  stammered,  in  a  voice  that  was  barely  audible: 

"Moil  Dieu !  I  do  not  know;  I  swear  to  you,  I  do  not 
know,  more  than  a  babe  unborn.  I  will  not  lie  to  you — I 
cannot!  No,  I  have  no  excuse  to  offer;  I  cannot  say  he  beat 
me.  You  had  left  me,  I  was  beside  myself,  and  it  happened, 
how,  I  cannot,  no,  I  cannot  tell!" 


152  THE  DOWNFALL 

Sobs  choked  her  utterance,  and  he,  ashy  pale  and  with  a 
great  lump  rising  in  his  throat,  waited  silently  for  a  moment. 
The  thought  that  she  was  unwilling  to  tell  him  a  lie,  however, 
was  an  assuagement  to  his  rage  and  grief;  he  went  on  to  ques- 
tion her  further,  anxious  to  know  the  many  things  that  as  yet 
he  had  been  unable  to  understand. 

"My  father  has  kept  you  here,  it  seems?" 

She  replied  with  her  resigned,  courageous  air,  without  rais- 
ing her  eyes: 

"I  work  hard  for  him,  it  does  not  cost  much  to  keep  me, 
and  as  there  is  now  another  mouth  to  feed  he  has  taken  advan- 
tage of  it  to  reduce  my  wages.  He  knows  well  enough  that 
now,  when  he  orders,  there  is  nothing  left  for  me  but  to 
obey." 

"But  why  do  you  stay  with  him?" 

The  question  surprised  her  so  that  she  looked  him  in  the 
face. 

"Where  would  you  have  me  go?  Here  my  little  one  and  I 
have  at  least  a  home  and  enough  to  keep  us  from  starving." 

They  were  silent  again,  both  intently  reading  in  the  other's 
eyes,  while  up  the  shadowy  valley  the  sounds  of  the  sleeping 
camp  came  faintly  to  their  ears,  and  the  dull  rumble  of  wheels 
upon  the  bridge  of  boats  went  on  unceasingly.  There  was  a 
shriek,,  the  loud,  despairing  cry  of  man  or  beast  in  mortal 
peril,  that  passed,  unspeakably  mournful,  through  the  dark 
night. 

"Listen,  Silvine,"  Honore  slowly  and  feelingly  went  on; 
"you  sent  me  a  letter  that  afforded  me  great  pleasure.  I 
should  have  never  come  back  here,  but  that  letter — I  have 
been  reading  it  again  this  evening — speaks  of  things  that  could 
not  have  been  expressed  more  delicately " 

She  had  turned  pale  when  first  she  heard  the  subject  men- 
tioned. Perhaps  he  was  angry  that  she  had  dared  to  write  to 
him,  like  one  devoid  of  shame;  then,  as  his  meaning  became 
more  clear,  her  face  reddened  with  delight. 

"I  know  you  to  be  truthful,  and  knowing  it,  I  believe  what 
you  wrote  in  that  letter — yes,  I  believe  it  now  implicitly. 
You  were  right  in  supposing  that,  if  I  were  to  die  in  battle 
without  seeing  you  again,  it  would  be  a  great  sorrow  to  me  to 
leave  this  world  with  the  thought  that  you  no  longer  loved  me. 
And  therefore,  since  you  love  me  still,  since  I  am  your  first 

and  only  love — '       His  tongue  became  thick,  his  emotion 

was  so  deep  that  expression  failed  him,     "Listen,  Silvine;  if 


THE  DOWNFALL  153 

those  beasts  of  Prussians  let  me  live,  you  shall  yet  be  mine; 
yes,  as  soon  as  I  have  served  my  time  out  we  will  be  married." 

She  rose  and  stood  erect  upon  her  feet,  gave  a  cry  of  joy, 
and  threw  herself  upon  the  young  man's  bosom.  She  could 
not^speak  a  word ;  every  drop  of  blood  in  her  veins  was  in  her 
cheeks.  He  seated  himself  upon  the  chair  and  drew  her  down 
upon  his  lap. 

"I  have  thought  the  matter  over  carefully;  it  was  to  say 
what  I  have  said  that  I  came  here  this  evening.  Should  my 
father  refuse  us  his  consent,  the  earth  is  large ;  we  will  go 
away.  And  your  little  one,  no  one  shall  harm  him,  mon  Dieu  ! 
More  will  come  along,  and  among  them  all  I  shall  not  know 
him  from  the  others." 

She  was  forgiven,  fully  and  entirely.  Such  happiness 
seemed  too  great  to  be  true;  she  resisted,  murmuring: 

"No,  it  cannot  be;  it  is  too  much;  perhaps  you  might 
repent  your  generosity  some  day.  But  how  good  it  is  of  you, 
Honore,  and  how  I  love  you!" 

He  silenced  her  with  a  kiss  upon  the  lips,  and  strength  was 
wanting  her  longer  to  put  aside  the  great,  the  unhoped-for 
good  fortune  that  had  come  to  her;  a  life  of  happiness  where 
she  had  looked  forward  to  one  of  loneliness  and  sorrow!  With 
an  involuntary,  irresistible  impulse  she  threw  her  arms  about 
him,  kissing  him  again  and  again,  straining  him  to  her  bosom 
with  all  her  woman's  strength,  as  a  treasure  that  was  lost  and 
found  again,  that  was  hers,  hers  alone,  that  thenceforth  no 
one  was  ever  to  take  from  her.  He  was  hers  once  more,  he 
whom  she  had  lost,  and  she  would  die  rather  than  let  anyone 
deprive  her  of  him. 

At  that  moment  confused  sounds  reached  their  ears;  the 
sleeping  camp  was  awaking  amid  a  tumult  that  rose  and  filled 
the  dark  vault  of  heaven.  Hoarse  voices  were  shouting  orders, 
bugles  were  sounding,  drums  beating,  and  from  the  naked 
fields  shadow)''  forms  were  seen  emerging  in  indistinguishable 
masses,  a  surging,  billowing  sea  whose  waves  were  already 
streaming  downward  to  the  road  beneath.  The  fires  on  the 
banks  of  the  stream  were  dying  down ;  all  that  could  be  seen 
there  was  masses  of  men  moving  confusedly  to  and  fro ;  it  was 
not  even  possible  to  tell  if  the  movement  across  the  river  way 
still  in  progress.  Never  had  the  shades  of  night  veiled  such 
depths  of  distress,  such  abject  misery  of  terror. 

Father  Fouchard  came  to  the  window  and  shouted  that  the 
troops  were  moving.  Jean  and  Maurice  awoke,  stiff  and  shiv* 


154  THE  DOWNFALL 

ering,  and  got  on  their  feet.  Honore  took  Silvine's  hands  in 
his  and  gave  them  a  swift  parting  clasp. 

"It  is  a  promise.     Wait  for  me." 

She  could  find  no  word  to  say  in  answer,  but  all  her  soul 
went  out  to  him  in  one  long,  last  look,  as  he  leaped  from  the 
window  and  hurried  away  to  find  his  battery. 

"Good-by,  father!" 

"Good-by,  my  boy!" 

And  that  was  all;  peasant  and  soldier  parted  as  they  had 
met,  without  embracing,  like  a  father  and  son  whose  existence 
was  of  little  import  to  each  other. 

Maurice  and  Jean  also  left  the  farmhouse,  and  descended 
the  steep  hill  on  a  run.  When  they  reached  the  bottom  the 
io6th  was  nowhere  to  be  found ;  the  regiments  had  all  moved 
off.  They  made  inquiries,  running  this  way  and  that,  and 
were  directed  first  one  way  and  then  another.  At  last,  when 
they  had  near  lost  their  wits  in  the  fearful  confusion,  they 
stumbled  on  their  company,  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant 
Rochas;  as  for  the  regiment  and  Captain  Beaudoin,  no  one 
could  say  where  they  were.  And  Maurice  was  astounded 
when  he  noticed  for  the  first  time  that  that  mob  of  men,  guns, 
and  horses  was  leaving  Remilly  and  taking  the  Sedan  road 
that  lay  on  the  left  bank.  Something  was  wrong  again ;  the 
passage  of  the  Meuse  was  abandoned,  they  were  in  full  retreat 
to  the  north ! 

An  officer  of  chasseurs,  who  was  standing  near,  spoke  up  in 
a  loud  voice: 

"  Norn  de  Dieu!  the  time  for  us  to  make  the  movement  was 
the  28th,  when  we  were  at  Chene!" 

Others  were  more  explicit  in  their  information ;  fresh  news 
had  been  received.  About  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  one  of 
Marshal  Ma.cMahon's  aides  had  come  riding  up  to  say  to  Gen- 
eral Douay  that  the  whole  army  was  ordered  to  retreat  imme- 
diately on  Sedan,  without  loss  of  a  minute's  time.  The  dis- 
aster of  the  5th  corps  at  Beaumont  had  involved  the  three 
other  corps.  The  general,  who  was  at  that  time  down  at  the 
bridge  of  boats  superintending  operations,  was  in  despair  that 
only  a  portion  of  his  3d  division  had  so  far  crossed  the 
stream ;  it  would  soon  be  day,  and  they  were  liable  to  be 
attacked  at  any  moment.  He  therefore  sent  instructions  to 
the  several  organizations  of  his  command  to  make  at  once  for 
Sedan,  each  independently  of  the  others,  by  the  most  direct 
roads,  while  he  himself,  leaving  orders  to  burn  the  bridge  of 


THE  DOWNFALL  J55 

boats,  took  the  road  on  the  left  bank  with  his  26.  division 
and  the  artillery,  and  the  3d  division  pursued  that  on  the 
right  bank;  the  ist,  that  had  felt  the  enemy's  claws  at  Beau- 
mont, was  flying  in  disorder  across  the  country,  no  one  knew 
where.  Of  the  yth  corps,  that  had  not  seen  a  battle,  all  that 
remained  were  those  scattered,  incoherent  fragments,  lost 
among  lanes  and  by-roads,  running  away  in  the  darkness. 

It  was  not  yet  three  o'clock,  and  the  night  was  as  black  as 
ever.  Maurice,  although  he  knew  the  country,  could  not 
make  out  where  they  were  in  the  noisy,  surging  throng  that 
filled  the  road  from  ditch  to  ditch,  pouring  onward  like  a 
brawling  mountain  stream.  Interspersed  among  the  regiments 
were  many  fugitives  from  the  rout  at  Beaumont,  in  ragged 
uniforms,  begrimed  with  blood  and  dirt,  who  inoculated  the 
others  with  their  own  terror.  Down  the  wide  valley,  from  the 
wooded  hills  across  the  stream,  came  one  universal,  all- 
pervading  uproar,  the  scurrying  tramp  of  other  hosts  in  swift 
retreat;  the  ist  corps,  coming  from  Carignan  and  Douzy,  the 
1 2th  flying  from  Mouzon  with  the  shattered  remnants  of  the 
5th,  moved  like  puppets  and  driven  onward,  all  of  them,  by 
that  one  same,  inexorable,  irresistible  pressure  that  since  the 
28th  had  been  urging  the  army  northward  and  driving  it  into 
the  trap  where  it  was  to  meet  its  doom. 

Day  broke  as  Maurice's  company  was  passing  through  Pont 
Maugis,  and  then  he  recognized  their  locality,  the  hills  of  Liry 
to  the  left,  the  Meuse  running  beside  the  road  on  the  right. 
Bazeilles  and  Balan  presented  an  inexpressibly  funereal  aspect, 
looming  among  the  exhalations  of  the  meadows  in  the  chill, 
wan  light  of  dawn,  while  against  the  somber  background  of  her 
great  forests  Sedan  was  profiled  in  livid  outlines,  indistinct  as 
the  creation  of  some  hideous  nightmare.  When  they  had  left 
Wadelincourt  behind  them  and  were  come  at  last  to  the  Torcy 
gate,  the  governor  long  refused  them  admission ;  he  only 
yielded,  after  a  protracted  conference,  upon  their  threat  to 
storm  the  place.  It  was  five  o'clock  when  at  last  the  yth 
corps,  weary,  cold,  and  hungry,  entered  Sedan, 


J56  THE  DOWNFALL 


VIII. 

IN  the  crush  on  the  Place  de  Torcy  that  ensued  upon  the 
entrance  of  the  troops  into  the  city  Jean  became  separated 
from  Maurice,  and  all  his  attempts  to  find  him  again  among  the 
surging  crowd  were  fruitless.  It  was  a  piece  of  extreme  ill- 
luck,  for  he  had  accepted  the  young  man's  invitation  to  go 
with  him  to  his  sister's,  where  there  would  be  rest  and  food 
for  them,  and  even  the  luxury  of  a  comfortable  bed.  The 
confusion  was  so  great — the  regiments  disintegrated,  no  dis- 
cipline, and  no  officers  to  enforce  it — that  the  men  were  free  to 
do  pretty  much  as  they  pleased.  There  was  plenty  of  time  to 
look  about  them  and  hunt  up  their  commands;  they  would 
have  a  few  hours  of  sleep  first. 

Jean  in  his  bewilderment  found  himself  on  the  viaduct  of 
Torcy,  overlooking  the  broad  meadows  which,  by  the  gov- 
ernor's orders,  had  been  flooded  with  water  from  the  river. 
Then,  passing  through  another  archway  and  crossing  the  Pont 
de  Meuse,  he  entered  the  old,  rampart-girt  city,  where,  among 
the  tall  and  crowded  houses  and  the  damp,  narrow  streets,  it 
seemed  to  him  that  night  was  descending  again,  notwithstand- 
ing the  increasing  daylight.  He  could  not  so  much  as 
remember  the  name  of  Maurice's  brother-in-law;  he  only 
knew  that  his  sister's  name  was  Henriette.  The  outlook  was 
not  encouraging;  all  that  kept  him  awake  was  the  automatic 
movement  of  walking;  he  felt  that  he  should  drop  were  he  to 
stop.  The  indistinct  ringing  in  his  ears  was  the  same  that  is 
experienced  by  one  drowning;  he  was  only  conscious  of  the 
ceaseless  onpouring  of  the  stream  of  men  and  animals  that  car- 
ried him  along  with  it  on  its  current.  He  had  partaken  of 
food  at  Remilly,  sleep  was  now  his  great  necessity;  and  the 
same  was  true  of  the  shadowy  bands  that  he  saw  flitting  past 
him  in  those  strange,  fantastic  streets.  At  every  moment  a 
man  would  sink  upon  the  sidewalk  or  tumble  into  a  doorway, 
and  there  would  remain,  as  if  struck  by  death. 

Raising  his  eyes,  Jean  read  upon  a.  signboard :  Avenue  de 
la  Sous-Prefecture.  At  the  end  of  the  street  was  a  monument 
standing  in  a  public  garden,  and  at  the  corner  of  the  avenue 
he  beheld  a  horseman,  a  chasseur  d'Afrique,  whose  face 
seemed  familiar  to  him.  Was  it  not  Prosper,  the  young  man 
from  Remilly,  whom  he  had  seen  in  Maurice's  company  at 
Vouziers?  Perhaps  he  had  been  gent  in  with  dispatches,  He 


THE  DOWNFALL  15 7 

had  dismounted,  and  his  skeleton  of  a  horse,  so  weak  that  he 
could  scarcely  stand,  was  trying  to  satisfy  his  hunger  by  gnaw- 
ing at  the  tail-board  of  an  army  wagon  that  was  drawn  up 
against  the  curb.  There  had  been  no  forage  for  the  animals 
for  the  last  two  days,  and  they  were  literally  dying  of  starva- 
tion. The  big  strong  teeth  rasped  pitifully  on  the  wood- 
work of  the  wagon,  while  the  soldier  stood  by  and  wept  as  he 
watched  the  poor  brute. 

Jean  was  moving  away  when  it  occurred  to  him  that  the 
trooper  might  be  able  to  give  him  the  address  of  Maurice's 
sister.  He  returned,  but  the  other  was  gone,  and  it  would 
have  been  useless  to  attempt  to  find  him  in  that  dense  throng. 
He  was  utterly  disheartened,  and  wandering  aimlessly  from 
street  to  street  at  last  found  himself  again  before  the  Sous- 
Prefecture,  whence  he  struggled  onward  to  the  Place  Turenne. 
Here  he  was  comforted  for  an  instant  by  catching  sight  of 
Lieutenant  Rochas,  standing  in  front  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville 
with  a  few  men  of  his  company,  at  the  foot  of  the  statue  he 
had  seen  before;  if  he  could  not  find  his  friend  he  could  at 
all  events  rejoin  the  regiment  and  have  a  tent  to  sleep  under. 
Nothing  had  been  seen  of  Captain  Beaudoin ;  doubtless  he 
had  been  swept  away  in  the  press  and  landed  in  some  place 
far  away,  while  the  lieutenant  was  endeavoring  to  collect  his 
scattered  men  and  fruitlessly  inquiring  of  everyone  he  met 
where  division  headquarters  were.  As  he  advanced  into  the 
city,  however,  his  numbers,  instead  of  increasing,  dwindled. 
One.  man,  with  the  gestures  of  a  lunatic,  entered  an  inn  and 
was  seen  no  more.  Three  others  were  halted  in  front  of  a 
grocer's  shop  by  a  party  of  zouaves  who  had  obtained  posses- 
sion of  a  small  cask  of  brandy;  one  was  already  lying  sense- 
less in  the  gutter,  while  the  other  two  tried  to  get  away,  but 
were  too  stupid  and  dazed  to  move.  Loube't  and  Chouteau 
had  nudged  each  other  with  the  elbow  and  disappeared  down 
n  blind  alley  in  pursuit  of  a  fat  woman  with  a  loaf  of  bread, 
so  that  all  who  remained  with  the  lieutenant  were  Pache  and 
Lapoulle,  with  some  ten  or  a  dozen  more. 

Rochas  was  standing  by  the  base  of  the  bronze  statue  of 
Turenne,  making  heroic  efforts  to  keep  his  eyes  open.  When 
he  recognized  Jean  he  murmured: 

"Ah,  is  it  you,  corporal?     Where  are  your  men?" 

Jean,  by  a  gesture  expressive  in  its  vagueness,  intimated 
that  he  did  not  know,  but  Pache,  pointing  to  Lapoulle, 
Answered  with  tears  in  his  eyes : 


15 8  THE  DOWNFALL 

"Here  we  are;  there  are  none  left  but  us  two.  The  merci- 
ful Lord  have  pity  on  our  sufferings;  it  is  too  hard!" 

The  other,  the  colossus  with  the  colossal  appetite,  looked 
hungrily  at  Jean's  hands,  as  if  to  reproach  them  for  being 
always  empty  in  those  days.  Perhaps,  in  his  half-sleeping 
state,  he  had  dreamed  that  Jean  was  away  at  the  commissary's 
for  rations. 

"D n  the  luck!"  he  grumbled,  "we'll  have  to  tighten 

up  our  belts  another  hole!" 

Gaude,  the  bugler,  was  leaning  against  the  iron  railing, 
waiting  for  the  lieutenant's  order  to  sound  the  assembly; 
sleep  came  to  him  so  suddenly  that  he  slid  from  his  position 
and  within  a  second  was  lying  flat  on  his  back,  unconscious. 
One  by  one  they  all  succumbed  to  the  drowsy  influence  and 
snored  in  concert,  except  Sergeant  Sapin  alone,  who,  with  his 
little  pinched  nose  in  his  small  pale  face,  stood  staring  with 
distended  eyes  at  the  horizon  of  that  strange  city,  as  if  trying 
to  read  his  destiny  there. 

Lieutenant  Rochas  meantime  had  yielded  to  an  irresistible 
impulse  and  seated  himself  on  the  ground.  He  attempted  to 
give  an  order. 

"Corporal,  you  will — you  will " 

And  that  was  as  far  as  he  could  proceed,  for  fatigue  sealed 
his  lips,  and  like  the  rest  he  suddenly  sank  down  and  was  lost 
in  slumber. 

Jean,  not  caring  to  share  his  comrades'  fate  and  pillow  his 
head  on  the  hard  stones,  moved  away;  he  was  bent  on  finding 
a  bed  in  which  to  sleep.  At  a  window  of  the  Hotel  of  the 
Golden  Cross,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  square,  he  caught 
a  glimpse  of  General  Bourgain-Desfeuilles,  already  half- 
undressed  and  -on  the  point  of  tasting  the  luxury  of  clean 
white  sheets.  Why  should  he  be  more  self-denying  than  the 
rest  of  them?  he  asked  himself ;  why  should  he  suffer  longer? 
And  just  then  a  name  came  to  his  recollection  that  caused  him 
a  thrill  of -delight,  the  name  of  the  manufacturer  in  whose 
employment  Maurice's  brother-in-law  was.  M.  Delaherche! 
yes,  that  was  it.  He  accosted  an  old  man  who  happened  to 
be  passing. 

"Can  you  tell  me  where  M.  Delaherche  lives?" 

"In  the  Rue  Maqua,  near  the  corner  of  the  Rue  au  Beurre; 
you  can't  mistake  it;  it  is  a  big  house,  with  statues  in  the 
garden." 

The  pl4  man   turned   away,  but  presently   came   running 


THE  DOWNFALL  *59 

back.  "I  see  you  belong  to  the  io6th.  If  it  is  your  regiment 
you  are  looking  for,  it  left  the  city  by  the  Chateau,  down 
there.  I  just  met  the  colonel,  Monsieur  de  Vineuil;  I  used 
to  know  him  when  he  lived  at  Mezieres." 

But  Jean  went  his  way,  with  an  angry  gesture  of  impatience. 
No,  no!  no  sleeping  on  the  hard  ground  for  him,  now  that  he 
was  certain  of  finding  Maurice.  And  yet  he  could  not  help 
feeling  a  twinge  of  remorse  as  lie  thought  of  the  dignified  old 
colonel,  who  stood  fatigue  so  manfully  in  spite  of  his  years, 
sharing  the  sufferings  of  his  men,  with  no  more  luxurious 
shelter  -than  his  tent.  He  strode  across  the  Grande  Rue  with 
rapfd  steps  and  soon  was  in  the  midst  of  the  tumult  and 
uproar  of  the  city;  there  he  hailed  a  small  boy,  who  con- 
ducted him  to  the  Rue  Maqua. 

There  it  was  that  in  the  last  century  a  grand-uncle  of  the 
present  Delaherche  had  built  the  monumental  structure  that 
had  remained  in  the  family  a  hundred  and  sixty  years. 
There  is  more  than  one  cloth  factory  in  Sedan  that  dates  back 
to  the  early  years  of  Louis  XV. ;  enormous  piles,  they  are, 
covering  as  much  ground  as  the  Louvre,  and  with  stately 
fa9ades  of  royal  magnificence.  The  one  in  the  Rue  Maqua 
was  three  stories  high,  and  its  tall  windows  were  adorned  with 
carvings  of  severe  simplicity,  while  the  palatial  courtyard  in 
the  center  was  filled  with  grand  old  trees,  gigantic  elms  that 
were  coeval  with  the  building  itself.  In  it  three  generations 
of  Delaherches  had  amassed  comfortable  fortunes  for  them- 
selves. The  father  of  Charles,  the  proprietor  in  our  time,  had 
inherited  the  property  from  a  cousin  who  had  died  without 
being  blessed  with  children,  so  that  it  was  now  a  younger 
branch  that  was  in  possession.  The  affairs  of  the  house  had 
prospered  under  the  father's  control,  but  he  was  something  of 
a  blade  and  a  roisterer,  and  his  wife's  existence  with  him  was 
not  one  of  unmixed  happiness;  the  consequence  of  which  was 
that  the  lady,  when  she  became  a  widow,  not  caring  to  see  a 
repetition  by  the  son  of  the"  performances  of  the  father,  made 
haste  to  find  a  wife  for  him  in  the  person  of  a  simple-minded 
and  exceedingly  devout  young  woman,  and  subsequently  kept 
him  tied  to  her  apron  string  until  he  had  attained  the  mature 
age  of  fifty  and  over.  But  no  one  in  this  transitory  world  can 
tell  what  time  has  in  store  for  him ;  when  the  devout  young 
person's  time  came  to  leave  this  life  Delaherche,  who  had 
known  none  of  the  joys  of  youth,  fell  head  over  ears  in  love 
with  a  young  widow  of  Charleville,  pretty  Madame  Maginot, 


i6o  THE  DOWNFALL 

who  had  been  the  subject  of  some  gossip  in  her  day,  and  in 
the  autumn  preceding  the  events  recorded  in  this  history  had 
married  her,  in  spite  of  all  his  mother's  prayers  and  tears.  It 
is  proper  to  add  that  Sedan,  which  is  very  straitlaced  in  its 
notions  of  propriety,  has  always  been  inclined  to  frown  on 
Charleville,  the  city  of  laughter  and  levity.  And  then  again 
thfe  marriage  would  never  have  been  effected  but  for  the  fact 
that  Gilberte's  uncle  was  Colonel  de  Vineuil,  who  it  was  sup- 
posed would  soon  be  made  a  general.  This  relationship  and 
the  idea  that  he  had  married  into  army  circles  was  to  the  cloth 
manufacturer  a  source  of  great  delight. 

That  morning  Delaherche,  when  he  learned  that  the  army 
was  to  pass  through  Mouzon,  had  invited  Weiss,  his  account- 
ant, to  accompany  him  on  that  carriage  ride  of  which  we  have 
heard  Father  Fouchard  speak  to  Maurice.  Tall  and  stout, 
with  a  florid  complexion,  prominent  nose  and  thick  lips,  he 
was  of  a  cheerful,  sanguine  temperament  and  had  all  the 
French  bourgeois'  boyish  love  for  a  handsome  display  of 
troops.  Having  ascertained  from  the  apothecary  at  Mouzon 
that  the  Emperor  was  at  Baybel,  a  farm  in  the  vicinity,  he  had 
driven  up  there,  had  seen  the  monarch,  and  even  had  been 
near  speaking  to  him,  an  adventure  of  such  thrilling  interest 
that  he  had  talked  of  it  incessantly  ever  since  his  return. 
But  what  a  terrible  return  that  had  been,  over  roads  choked 
with  the  panic-stricken  fugitives  from  Beaumont!  twenty 
times  their  cabriolet  was  near  being  overturned  into  the  ditch. 
Obstacle  after  obstacle  they  had  encountered,  and  it  was  night 
before  the  two  men  reached  home.  The  element  of  the  tragic 
and  unforeseen  there  was  in  the  whole  business,  that  army 
that  Delaherche  had  driven  out  to  pass  in  review  and  which 
had  brought  him  home  with  it,  whether  he  would  or  no,  in  the 
mad  gallop  of  its  retreat,  made  him  repeat  again  and  again 
during  their  long  drive: 

"I  supposed  it  was  moving  on  Verdun  and  would  have 
given  anything  rather  than  miss  seeing  it.  Ah  well !  I  have 
seen  it  now,  and  I  am  afraid  we  shall  see  more  of  it  in  Sedan 
than  we  desire." 

The  following  morning  he  was  awakened  at  five  o'clock  by 
the  hubbub,  like  the  roar  of  water  escaping  from  a  broken 
dam,  made  by  the  yth  corps  as  it  streamed  through  the  city; 
he  dressed  in  has.te  and  went  out,  and  almost  the  first  person 
he  set  eyes  on  in  the  Place  Turenne  was  Captain  Beaudoin. 
When  pretty  Madame  Maginot  was  living  at  Charleville  the 


THE  DOWNFALL  l6l 

year  before  the  captain  had  been  one  of  her  best  friends,  and 
Gilberte  had  introduced  him  to  her  husband  before  they  were 
married.  Rumor  had  it  that  the  captain  had  abdicated  his 
position  as  first  favorite  and  made  way  for  the  cloth  mer- 
chant from  motives  of  delicacy,  not  caring  to  stand  in  the 
way  of  the  great  good  fortune  that  seemed  coming  to  his  fair 
friend. 

"Hallo,  is  that  you?"  exclaimed  Delaherche.  "Good 
Heavens,  what  a  state  you're  in!" 

It  was  but  too  true;  the  dandified  Beaudoin,  usually  so 
trim  and  spruce,  presented  a  sorry  spectacle  that  morning  in 
his  soiled  uniform  and  with  his  grimy  face  and  hands. 
Greatly  to  his  disgust  he  had  had  a  party  of  Turcos  for  travel- 
ing companions,  and  could  not  explain  how  he  had  become 
separated  from  his  company.  Like  all  the  others  he  was 
ready  to  drop  with  fatigue  and  hunger,  but  that  was  not  what 
most  afflicted  him ;  he  had  not  been  able  to  change  his  linen 
since  leaving  Rheims,  and  was  inconsolable. 

"Just  think  of  it!"  he  wailed,  "those  idiots,  those  scoun- 
drels, lost  my  baggage  at  Vouziers.  If  I  ever  catch  them  I 
will  break  every  bone  in  their  body!  And  now  I  haven't  a 
thing,  not  a  handkerchief,  not  a  pair  of  socks!  Upon  my 
word,  it  is  enough  to  make  one  mad!" 

Delaherche  was  for  taking  him  home  to  his  house  forthwith, 
but  he  resisted.  No,  no;  he  was  no  longer  a  human  being, 
he  would  not  frighten  people  out  of  their  wits.  The  manu- 
facturer had  to  make  solemn  oath  that  neither  his  wife  nor  his 
mother  had  risen  yet;  and  besides  he  should  have  soap, 
water,  linen,  everything  he  needed. 

It  was  seven  o'clock  when  Captain  Beaudoin,  having  done 
what  he  could  with  the  means  at  his  disposal  to  improve  his 
appearance,  and  comforted  by  the  sensation  of  wearing  under 
his  uniform  a  clean  shirt  of  his  host's,  made  his  appearance  in 
the  spacious,  high-ceiled  dining  room  with  its  somber  wainscot- 
ing. The  elder  Madame  Delaherche  was  already  there,  for 
she  was  always  on  foot  at  daybreak,  notwithstanding  she  was 
seventy-eight  years  old.  Her  hair  was  snowy  white;  in  her 
long,  lean  face  was  a  nose  almost  preternaturally  thin  and 
sharp  and  a  mouth  that  had  long  since  forgotten  how  to  laugh. 
She  rose,  and  with  stately  politeness  invited  the  captain  to  be 
seated  before  one  of  the  cups  of  cctftaii  lait  that  stood  on  the  table. 

"But,  perhaps,  sir,  you  would  prefer  meat  and  wine  after 
the  fatigue  to  which  you  have  been  subjected?" 


1 62  THE  DOWNFALL 

He  declined  the  offer,  however.  "A  thousand  thanks, 
madame;  a  little  milk,  with  bread  and  butter,  will  be  best  for 
me." 

At  that  moment  a  door  was  smartly  opened  and  Gilberte 
entered  the  room  with  outstretched  hand.  Delaherche  must 
have  told  her  who  was  there,  for  her  ordinary  hour  of  rising 
was  ten  o'clock.  She  was  tall,  lithe  of  form  and  well- 
proportioned,  with  an  abundance  of  handsome  black  hair,  a 
pair  of  handsome  black  eyes,  and  a  very  rosy,  wholesome 
complexion  withal;  she  had  a  laughing,  rather  free  and  easy 
way  with  her,  and  it  did  not  seem  possible  she  could  ever  look 
angry.  Her  peignoir  of  beige  ^  embroidered  with  red  silk,  was 
evidently  of  Parisian  manufacture. 

"Ah,  Captain,"  she  rapidly  said,  shaking  hands  with  the 
young  man,  "how  nice  of  you  to  stop  and  see  us,  away  up  in 
this  out-of-the-world  place!"  But  she  was  the  first  to  see  that 
she  had  "put  her  foot  in  it"  and  laugh  at  her  own  blunder. 
"Oh,  what  a  stupid  thing  I  am!  I  might  know  you  would 
rather  be  somewhere  else  than  at  Sedan,  under  the  circum- 
stances. But  I  am  very  glad  to  see  you  once  more." 

She  showed  it;  her  face  was  bright  and  animated,  while 
Madame  Delaherche,  who  could  not  have  failed  to  hear  some- 
thing of  the  gossip  that  had  been  current  among  the  scandal- 
mongers of  Charleville,  watched  the  pair  closely  with  her 
puritanical  air.  The  captain  was  very  reserved  in  his  behav- 
ior, however,  manifesting  nothing  more  than  a  pleasant  recol- 
lection of  hospitalities  previously  received  in  the  house  where 
he  was  visiting. 

They  had  no  more  than  sat  down  at  table  than  Delaherche, 
burning  to  relieve  himself  of  the  subject  that  filled  his  mind, 
commenced  to  relate  his  experiences  of  the  day  before. 

"You  know  I  saw  the  Emperor  at  Baybel." 

He  was  fairly  started  and  nothing  could  stop  him.  He 
began  by  describing  the  farmhouse,  a  large  structure  with  an 
interior  court,  surrounded  by  an  iron  railing,  and  situated  on 
a  gentle  eminence  overlooking  Mouzon,  to  the  left  of  the 
Carignan  road.  Then  he  came  back  to  the  i2th  corps,  whom 
he  had  visited  in  their  camp  among  the  vines  on  the  hillsides; 
splendid  troops  they  were,  with  their  equipments  brightly 
shining  in  the  sunlight,  and  the  sight  of  them  had  caused  his 
heart  to  beat  with  patriotic  ardor. 

"And  there  I  was,  sir,  when  the  Emperor,  who  had  alighted 
to  breakfast  and  rest  himself  a  bit,  came  out  of  the  farmhouse. 


THE  DOWNFALL  163 

He  wore  a  general's  uniform  and  carried  an  overcoat  across 
his  arm,  although  the  sun  was  very  hot.  He  was  followed  by 
a  servant  bearing  a  camp  stool.  He  did  not  look  to  me  like 
a  well  man;  ah  no,  far  from  it;  his  stooping  form,  the  sallow- 
ness  of  his  complexion,  the  feebleness  of  his  movements,  all. 
indicated  him  to  be  in  a  very  bad  way.  I  was  not  surprised, 
for  the  druggist  at  Mouzon,  when  he  recommended  me  to 
drive  on  to  Baybel,  told  me  that  an  aide-de-camp  had  just 
been  in  his  shop  to  get  some  medicine — you  understand  what 
I  mean,  medicine  for —  The  presence  of  his  wife  and 

mother  prevented  him  from  alluding  more  explicitly  to  the 
nature  of  the  Emperor's  complaint,  which  was  an  obstinate 
diarrhea  that  he  had  contracted  at  Chene  and  which  com- 
pelled him  to  make  those  frequent  halts  at  houses  along  the 
road.  "Well,  then,  the  attendant  opened  the  camp  stool  and 
placed  it  in  the  shade  of  a  clump  of  trees  at  the  edge  of  a  field 
of  wheat,  and  the  Emperor  sat  down  on  it.  Sitting  there  in  a 
limp  "dejected  attitude,  perfectly  still,  he  looked  for  all  the 
world  like  a  small  shopkeeper  taking  a  sun  bath  for  his  rheu- 
matism. His  dull  eyes  wandered  over  the  wide  horizon,  the 
Meuse  coursing  through  the  valley  at  his  feet,  before  him  the 
range  of  wooded  heights  whose  summits  recede  and  are  lost  in 
the  distance,  on  the  left  the  waving  tree-tops  of  Dieulet  forest, 
on  the  right  the  verdure-clad  eminence  of  Sommanthe.  He 
was  surrounded  by  his  military  family,  aides  and  officers  of 
rank,  and  a  colonel  of  dragoons,  who  had  already  applied  to 
me  for  information  about  the  country,  had  just  motioned  me 

not  to  go  away,  when  all  at  once "     Delaherche  rose  from 

his  chair,  for  he  had  reached  the  point  where  the  dramatic 
interest  of  his  story  culminated  and  it  became  necessary  to 
re-enforce  words  by  gestures.  "All  at  once  there  is  a  succes- 
sion of  sharp  reports  and  right  in  front  of  us,  over  the  wood 
of  Dieulet.  shells  are  seen  circling  through  the  air.  It  pro- 
duced on  me  no  more  effect  than  a  display  of  fireworks  in 
broad  daylight,  sir,  upon  my  word  it  didn't!  The  people 
about  the  Emperor,  of  course,  showed  a  good  deal  of  agitation 
and  uneasiness.  The  colonel  of  dragoons  comes  running  up 
again  to  ask  if  I  can  give  them  an  idea  whence  the  firing  pro- 
ceeds. I  answer  him  off-hand;  'It  is  at  Beaumont;  there  is 
not  the  slightest  doubt  about  it.'  He  returns  to  the  Emperor, 
on  whose  knees  an  aide-de-camp  was  unfolding  a  map.  The 
Emperor  was  evidently  of  opinion  that  the  fighting  was  not  at 
Beaumont,  for  he  sent  the  colonel  back  to  me  a  third  time, 


1 64  THE  DOWNFALL 

But  I  couldn't  well  do  otherwise  than  stick  to  what  I  had  said 
before,  could  I,  now?  the  more  that  the  shells  kept  flying 
through  the  air,  nearer  and  nearer,  following  the  line  of  the 
Mouzon  road.  And  then,  sir,  as  sure  as  I  see  you  standing 
there,  I  saw  the  Emperor  turn  his  pale  face  toward  me.  Yes 
sir,  he  looked  at  me  a  moment  with  those  dim  eyes  of  his,  that 
were  filled  with  an  expression  of  melancholy  and  distrust. 
And  then  his  face  declined  upon  his  map  again  and  he  made 
no  further  movement." 

Delaherche,  although  he  was  an  ardent  Bonapartist  at  the 
time  of  the  plebiscite,  had  admitted  after  our  early  defeats  that 
the  government  was  responsible  for  some  mistakes,  but  he 
stood  up  for  the  dynasty,  compassionating  and  excusing 
Napoleon  III.,  deceived  and  betrayed  as  he  was  by  everyone. 
It  was  his  firm  opinion  that  the  men  at  whose  door  should 
be  laid  the  responsibility  for  all  our  disasters  were  none  other 
than  those  Republican  deputies  of  the  opposition  who^had 
stood  in  the  way  of  voting  the  necessary  men  and  money. 

"And  did  the  Emperor  return  to  the  farmhouse?"  asked 
Captain  Beaudoin. 

"That's  more  than  I  can  say,  my  dear  sir;  I  left  him  sitting 
on  his  stool.  It  was  midday,  the  battle  was  drawing  nearer, 
and  it  occurred  to  me  that  it  was  time  to  be  thinking  of  my 
own  return.  All  that  I  can  tell  you  besides  is  that  a  general 
to  whom  I  pointed  out  the  position  of  Carignan  in  the  dis- 
tance, in  the  plain  to  our  rear,  appeared  greatly  surprised  to 
learn  that  the  Belgian  frontier  lay  in  that  direction  and  was 
only  a  few  miles  away.  Ah,  that  the  poor  Emperor  should 
have  to  rely  on  such  servants!" 

Gilberte,  all  smiles,  was  giving  her  attention  to  the  captain 
and  keeping  him  supplied  with  buttered  toast,  as  much  at  ease 
as  she  had  ever  been  in  bygone  days  when  she  received  him  in 
her  salon  during  her  widowhood.  She  insisted  that  he  should 
accept  a  bed  with  them,  but  he  declined,  and  it  was  agreed 
that  he  should  rest  for  an  hour  or  two  on  a  sofa  in  Dela- 
herche's  study  before  going  out  to  find  his  regiment.  As  he 
was  taking  the  sugar  bowl  from  the  young  woman's  hands  old 
Madame  Delaherche,  who  had  kept  her  eye  on  them,  dis- 
tinctly saw  him  squeeze  her  fingers,  and  the  old  lady's  suspi- 
cions were  confirmed.  At  that  moment  a  servant  came  to  the 
door. 

"Monsieur,  there  is  a  soldier  outside  who  wants  to  know  the 
address  of  Monsieur  Weiss," 


THE   DOWNFALL  165 

There  was  nothing  "stuck-up"  about  Delaherche,  people 
said ;  he  was  fond  of  popularity  and  was  always  delighted  to 
have  a  chat  with  those  of  an  inferior  station. 

"He  wants  Weiss's  address!  that's  odd.  Bring  the  soldier 
in  here." 

Jean  entered  the  room  in  such  an  exhausted  state  that  he 
reeled  as  if  he  had  been  drunk.  He  started  slightly  with 
astonishment  at  seeing  his  captain  seated  at  the  table  with  two 
ladies,  and  involuntarily  withdrew  the  hand  that  he  had 
extended  toward  a  chair  in  order  to  steady  himself;  he  replied 
briefly  to  the  questions  of  the  manufacturer,  who  played  his 
part  of  the  soldier's  friend  with  great  cordiality.  In  a  few 
words  he  explained  his  relation  toward  Maurice  and  the 
reason  why  he  was  looking  for  him. 

"He  is  a  corporal  in  my  company,"  the  captain  finally  said 
by  way  of  cutting  short  the  conversation,  and  inaugurated  a 
series  of  questions  on  his  own  account  to  learn  what  had 
become  of  the  regiment.  As  Jean  went  on  to  tell  that  the 
colonel  had  been  seen  crossing  the  city  to  reach  his  camp  at 
the  head  of  what  few  men  were  left  him,  Gilberte  again 
thoughtlessly  spoke  up,  with  the  vivacity  of  a  woman  whose 
beauty  is  supposed  to  atone  for  her  indiscretion  : 

"Oh !  he  is  my  uncle;  why  does  he  not  come  and  breakfast 
with  us?  We  could  fix  up  a  room  for  him  here.  Can't  we 
send  someone  for  him?" 

But  the  old  lady  discouraged  the  project  .with  an  authority 
there  was  no  disputing.  The  good  old  bourgeois  blood  of  the 
frontier  towns  flowed  in  her  veins ;  her  austerely  patriotic  sen- 
timents were  almost  those  of  a  man.  She  broke  the  stern 
silence  that  she  had  preserved  during  the  meal  by  saying: 

"Never  mind  Monsieur  de  Vineuil;   he  is  doing  his  duty." 

Her  short  speech  was  productive  of  embarrassment  among 
the  party.  Delaherche  conducted  the  captain  to  his  study, 
where  he  saw  him  safely  bestowed  upon  the  sofa;  Gilberte 
moved  lightly  off  about  her  business,  no  more  disconcerted  by 
her  rebuff  than  is  the  bird  that  shakes  its  wings  in  gay  defiance 
of  the  shower;  while  the  handmaid  to  whom  Jean  had  been 
intrusted  led  him  by  a  very  labyrinth  of  passages  and  stair- 
cases through  the  various  departments  of  the  factory. 

The  Weiss  family  lived  in  the  Rue  des  Voyards,  but  their 
house,  which  was  Delaherche's  property,  communicated  with 
the  great  structure  in  the  Rue  Maqua.  The  Rue  des  Voyards 
was  at  that  time  one  of  the  most  squalid  streets  in  Sedan, 


1 66  THE  DOWNFALL 

being  nothing  more  than  a  damp,  narrow  lane,  its  normal 
darkness  intensified  by  the  proximity  of  the  ramparts,  which 
ran  parallel  to  it.  The  roofs  of  the  tall  houses  almost'  met, 
the  dark  passages  were  like  the  mouths  of  caverns,  and  more 
particularly  so  at  that  end  where  rose  the  high  college  walls. 
Weiss,  however,  with  free  quarters  and  free  fuel  on  his  third 
floor,  found  the  location  a  convenient  one  on  account  of  its 
nearness  to  his  office,  to  which  he  could  descend  in  slippers 
without  having  to  go  around  by  the  street.  His  life  had  been 
a  happy  one  since  his  marriage  with  Henriette,  so  long  the 
object  of  his  hopes  and  wishes  since  first  he  came  to  know  her 
at  Chene,  filling  her  dead  mother's  place  when  only  six  years 
old  and  keeping  the  house  for  her  father,  the  tax-collector; 
while  he,  entering  the  big  refinery  almost  on  the  footing  of  a 
laborer,  was  picking  up  an  education  as  best  he  could,  and 
fitting  himself  for  the  accountant's  position  which  was  the 
reward  of  his  unremitting  toil.  And  even  when  he  had 
attained  to  that  measure  of  success  his  dream  was  not  to  be 
realized;  not  until  the  father  had  been  removed  by  death,  not 
until  the  brother  at  Paris  had  been  guilty  of  those  excesses: 
that  brother  Maurice  to  whom  his  twin  sister  had  in  some  sort 
made  herself  a  servant,  to  whom  she  had  sacrificed  her  little 
all  to  make  him  a  gentleman — not  until  then  was  Henriette  to 
be  his  wife.  She  had  never  been  aught  more  than  a  little 
drudge  at  home ;  she  could  barely  read  and  write ;  she  had  sold 
house,  furniture,  all  she  had,  to  pay  the  young  man's  debts, 
when  good,  kind  Weiss  came  to  her  with  the  offer  of  his  sav- 
ings, together  with  his  heart  and  his  two  strong  arms;  and  she 
had  accepted  him  with  grateful  tears,  bringing  him  in  return 
for  his  devotion  a  steadfast,  virtuous  affection,  replete  with 
tender  esteem,  if  not  the  stormier  ardors  of  a  passionate  love. 
Fortune  had  smiled  on  them ;  Delaherche  had  spoken  of  giv- 
ing Weiss  an  interest  in  the  business,  and  when  children  should 
come  to  bless  their  union  their  felicity  would  be  complete. 

"Look  out!"  the  servant  said  to  Jean;  "the  stairs  are 
steep." 

He  was  stumbling  upward  as  well  as  the  intense  darkness 
of  the  place  would  let  him,  when  suddenly  a  door  above  was 
thrown  open,  a  broad  belt  of  light  streamed  out  across  the 
landing,  and  he  heard  a  soft  voice  saying: 

"It  is  he." 

"Madame  Weiss,"  cried  the  servant,  "here  is  a  soldier  who 
has  been  inquiring  for  you." 


THE  DOWNFALL  167 

There  came  the  sound  of  a  low,  pleased  laugh,  and  the 
same  soft  voice  replied: 

"Good!  good!  I  know  who  it  is."  Then  to  the  corporal, 
who  was  hesitating,  rather  diffidently,  on  the  landing:  "Come 
in,  Monsieur  Jean.  Maurice  has  been  here  nearly  two  hours, 
and  we  have  been  wondering  what  detained  you." 

Then,  in  the  pale  sunlight  that  filled  the  room,  he  saw  how 
like  she  was  to  Maurice,  with  that  wonderful  resemblance  that 
often  makes  twins  so  like  each  other  as  to  be  indistinguishable. 
She  was  smaller  and  slighter  than  he,  however;  more  fragile  in 
appearance,  with  a  rather  large  mouth  and  delicately  molded 
features,  surmounted  by  an  opulence  of  the  most  beautiful  hair 
imaginable,  of  the  golden  yellow  of  ripened  grain.  The  fea- 
ture where  she  least  resembled  him  was  her  gray  eyes,  great 
calm,  brave  orbs,  instinct  with  the  spirit  of  the  grandfather, 
the  hero  of  the  Grand  Army.  She  used  few  words,  was  noise- 
less in  her  movements,  and  was  so  gentle,  so  cheerful,  so 
helpfully  active  that  where  she  passed  her  presence  seemed  to 
linger  in  the  air,  like  a  fragrant  caress. 

"Come  this  way,  Monsieur  Jean,"  she  said.  "Everything 
will  soon  be  ready  for  you." 

He  stammered  something  inarticulately,  for  his  emotion  was 
such  that  he  could  find  no  word  of  thanks.  In  addition  to 
that  his  eyes  were  closing  he  beheld  her  through  the  irresisti- 
ble drowsiness  that  was  settling  on  him  as  a  sea  fog  drifts  in 
and  settles  on  the  land,  in  which  she  seemed  floating  in  a 
vague,  unreal  way,  as  if  her  feet  no  longer  touched  the  earth. 
Could  it  be  that  it  was  all  a  delightful  apparition,  that  friendly 
young  woman  who  smiled  on  him  with  such  sweet  simplicity? 
He  fancied  for  a  moment  that  she  had  touched  his  hand  and 
that  he  had  felt  the  pressure  of  hers,  cool  and  firm,  loyal  as 
the  clasp  of  an  old  tried  friend. 

That  was  the  last  moment  in  which  Jean  was  distinctly  con- 
scious of  what  was  going  on  about  him.  They  were  in  the 
dining  room ;  bread  and  meat  were  set  out  on  the  table,  but 
for  the  life  of  him  he  could  not  have  raised  a  morsel  to  his 
lips.  A  man  was  there,  seated  on  a  chair.  Presently  he  knew 
it  was  Weiss,  whom  he  had  seen  at  Mulhausen,  but  he  had  no 
idea  what  the  man  was  saying  with  such  a  sober,  sorrowful 
air,  with  slow  and  emphatic  gestures.  Maurice  was  already 
sound  asleep,  with  the  tranquillity  of  death  resting  on  his  face, 
on  a  bed  that  had  been  improvised  for  him  beside  the  stove, 
and  Henriette  was  busying  herself  about  a  sofa  on  which  a 


r68  THE  DOWNFALL 

mattress  had  been  thrown;  she  brought  in  a  bolster,  pillow 
and  coverings ;  with  nimble,  dexterous  hands  she  spread  the 
white  sheets,  snowy  white,  dazzTmg  in  their  whiteness. 

Ah !  those  clean,  white  sheets,  so  long  coveted,  so  ardently 
desired;  Jean  had  eyes  for  naught  save  them.  For  six  weeks 
he  had  not  had  his  clothes  off,  had  not  slept  in  a  bed.  He 
was  as  impatient  as  a  child  waiting  for  some  promised  treat, 
or  a  lover  expectant  of  his  mistress's  coming;  the  time  seemed 
long,  terribly  long  to  him,  until  he  could  plunge  into  those 
cool,  white  depths  and  lose  himself  there.  Quickly,  as  soon 
as  he  was  alone,  he  removed  his  shoes  and  tossed  his  uniform 
across  a  chair,  then,  with  a  deep  sigh  of  satisfaction,  threw 
himself  on  the  bed.  He  opened  his  eyes  a  little  way  for  a  last 
look  about  him  before  his  final  plunge  into  unconsciousness, 
and  in  the  pale  morning  light  that  streamed  in  through  the 
lofty  window  beheld  a  repetition  of  his  former  pleasant  vision, 
only  fainter,  more  aerial ;  a  vision  of  Henriette  entering  the 
room  on  tiptoe,  and  placing  on  the  table  at  his  side  a  water-jug 
and  glass  that  had  been  forgotten  before.  She  seemed  to  lin- 
ger there  a  moment,  looking  at  the  sleeping  pair,  him  and  her 
brother,  with  her  tranquil,  ineffably  tender  smile  upon  her 
lips,  then  faded  into  air,  and  lie,  between  his  white  sheets,  was 
as  if  he  were  not. 

Hours — or  was  it  years?  slipped  by;  Jean  and  Maurice 
were  like  dead  men,  without  a  dream,  without  consciousness 
of  the  life  that  was  within  them.  Whether  it  was  ten  years  or 
ten  minutes,  time  had  stood  still  for  them  ;  the  overtaxed  body 
had  risen  against  its  oppressor  and  annihilated  their  every 
faculty.  They  awoke  simultaneously  with  a  great  start  and 
looked  at  each  other  inquiringly ;  where  were  they?  what  had 
happened?  how  long  had  they  slept?  The  same  pale  light  was 
entering  through  the  tall  window.  They  felt  as  if  they  had 
been  racked;  joints  stiffer,  limbs  wearier,  mouth  more  hot  and 
dry  than  when  they  had  lain  down ;  they  could  not  have 
slept  more  than  an  hour,  fortunately.  It  did  not  surprise 
them  to  see  Weiss  sitting  where  they  had  seen  him  before,  in 
the  same  dejected  attitude,  apparently  waiting  for  them  to 
awake. 

"Fichtre!"  exclaimed  Jean,  "we  must  get  up  and  report 
ourselves  to  the  first  sergeant  before  noon." 

He  uttered  a  smothered  cry  of  pain  as  he  jumped  to  the 
floor  and  began  to  dress. 

"Before  noon!"  said  Weiss.     "Are  you  aware  that  it  is 


THE  DOWNFALL  t60 

seven  o'clock  in  the  evening?  You  have  slept  about  twelve 
hours." 

Great  heavens,  seven  o'clock!  They  were  thunderstruck. 
Jean,  who  by  that  time  was  completely  dressed,  would  have 
run  for  it,  but  Maurice,  still  in  bed,  found  he  no  longer  had 
control  of  his  legs ;  how  were  they  ever  to  find  their  comrades? 
would  not  the  army  have  marched  away?  They  took  Weiss 
to  task  for  having  let  them  sleep  so  long.  But  the  accountant 
shook  his  head  sorrowfully  and  said : 

"You  have  done  just  as  well  to  remain  in  bed,  for  all  that 
has  been  accomplished." 

All  that  day,  from  early  morning,  he  had  been  scouring 
Sedan  and  its  environs  in  quest  of  news,  and  was  just  come  in, 
discouraged  with  the  inactivity  of  the  troops  and  the  inexpli- 
cable delay  that  had  lost  them  the  whole  of  that  precious  day, 
the  3 1 st.  The  sole  excuse  was  that  the  men  were  worn  out 
and  rest  was  an  absolute  necessity  for  them,  but  granting  that, 
he  could  not  see  why  the  retreat  should  not  have  been  contin- 
ued after  giving  them  a  few  hours  of  repose. 

"I  do  not  pretend  to  be  a  judge  of  such  matters,"  he  con- 
tinued, "but  I  have  a  feeling,  so  strong  as  to  be  almost  a 
conviction,  that  the  army  is  very  badly  situated  at  Sedan. 
The  i2th  corps  is  at  Bazeilles,  where  there  was  a  little  fighting 
this  morning;  the  ist  is  strung  out  along  the  Givonne  between 
la  Moncelle  and  Holly,  while  the  yth  is  encamped  on  the 
plateau  of  Floing,  and  the  5th,  what  is  left  of  it,  is  crowded 
together  under  the  ramparts  of  the  city,  on  the  side  of  the 
Chateau.  And  that  is  what  alarms  me,  to  see  them  all  con- 
centrated thus  about  the  city,  waiting  for  the  coming  of  the 
Prussians.  If  I  were  in  command  I  would  retreat  on  Mezieres, 
and  lose  no  time  about  it,  either.  I  know  the  country;  it  is 
the  only  line  of  retreat  that  is  open  to  us,  and  if  we  take  any 
other  course  we  shall  be  driven  into  Belgium.  Come  here! 
let  me  show  you  something." 

He  took  Jean  by  the  hand  and  led  him  to  the  window. 

"Tell  me  what  you  see  over  yonder  on  the  crest  of  the 
hills." 

Looking  from  the  window  over  the  ramparts,  over  the  adja- 
cent buildings,  their  view  embraced  the  valley  of  the  Meuse  to 
the  southward  of  Sedan.  There  was  the  river,  winding 
through  broad  meadows;  there,  to  the  left,  was  Remilly  in 
the  background,  Pont  Maugis  and  Wadelincourt  before  them 
and  Frenois  to  the  right ;  and  shutting  in  the  landscape  the 


I  ?0  THR  DOWNFALL 

range?  of  verdant  hills,  Liry  first,  then  la  Marfee  and  la  Croix 
Piau,  with  their  dense  forests.  A  deep  tranquillity,  a  crystal- 
line clearness  reigned  over  the  wide  prospect  that  lay  there  in 
the  mellow  light  of  the  declining  day. 

"Do  you  see  that  moving  line  of  black  upon  the  hilltops, 
that  procession  of  small  black  ants?" 

Jean  stared  in  amazement,  while  Maurice,  kneeling  on  his 
bed,  craned  his  neck  to  see. 

"Yes,  yes ! "  they  cried.  "There  is  a  line,  there  is  another, 
and  another,  and  another!  They  are  everywhere." 

"Well,"  continued  Weiss,  "those  are  Prussians.  I  have 
been  watching  them  since  morning,  and  they  have  been  com- 
ing, coming,  as  if  there  were  no  end  to  them!  You  may  be 
sure  of  one  thing:  if  our  troops  are  waiting  for  them,  they 
have  no  intention  of  disappointing  us.  And  not  I  alone,  but 
every  soul  in  the  city  saw  them;  it  is  only  the  generals  who 
persist  in  being  blind.  I  was  talking  with  a  general  officer  a 
little  while  ago;  he  shrugged  his  shoulders  and  told  me  that 
Marshal  MacMahon  was  absolutely  certain  that  he  had  not 
over  seventy  thousand  men  in  his  front.  God  grant  he  may 
be  right!  But  look  and  see  for  yourselves;  the  ground  is  hid 
by  them!  they  keep  coming,  ever  coming,  the  black  swarm!" 

At  this  juncture  Maurice  threw  himself  back  in  his  bed  and 
gave  way  to  a  violent  fit  of  sobbing.  Henriette  came  in,  a 
smile  on  her  face.  She  hastened  to  him  in  alarm. 

"What  is  it?" 

But  he  pushed  her  away.  "No,  no!  leave  me,  have  noth- 
ing more  to  do  with  me;  I  have  never  been  anything  but  a 
burden  to  you.  When  I  think  that  you  were  making  yourself 
a  drudge,  a  slave,  while  I  was  attending  college — oh !  to  what 
miserable  use  have  I  turned  that  education !  And  I  was  near 
bringing  dishonor  on  our  name;  I  shudder  to  think  where  I 
might  be  now,  had  you  not  beggared  yourself  to  pay  for  my 
extravagance  and  folly." 

Her  smile  came  back  to  her  face,  together  with  her  serenity. 

"Is  that  all?  Your  sleep  don't  seem  to  have  done  you 
good,  my  poor  friend.  But  since  that  is  all  gone  and  past, 
forget  it!  Are  you  not  doing  your  duty  now,  like  a  good 
Frenchman?  I  am  very  proud  of  you,  I  assure  you,  now  that 
you  are  a  soldier." 

She  had  turned  toward  Jean,  as  if  to  ask  him  to  come  to  her 
assistance,  and  he  looked  at  her  with  some  surprise  that  she 
appeared  to  him  less  beautiful  than  yesterday;  she  was  paler, 


TtfE  DO  WNFALL  t  7 1 

thinner,  now  that  the  glamour  was  no  longer  in  his  drowsy 
eyes.  The  one  striking  point  that  remained  unchanged  was 
her  resemblance  to  her  brother,  and  yet  the  difference  in  their 
two  natures  was  never  more  strongly  marked  than  at  that 
moment;  he,  weak  and  nervous  as  a  woman,  swayed  by  the 
impulse  of  the  hour,  displaying  in  his  person  all  the  fitful  and 
emotional  temperament  of  his  nation,  vibrating  from  one 
moment  to  another  between  the  loftiest  enthusiasm  and  the 
most  abject  despair;  she,  the  patient,  indomitable  housewife, 
such  an  inconsiderable  little  creature  in  her  resignation  and 
self-effacement,  meeting  adversity  with  a  brave  face  and  eyes 
full  of  inexpugnable  courage  and  resolution,  fashioned  from 
the  stuff  of  which  heroes  are  made. 

"Proud  of  me!"  cried  Maurice.  "Ah!  truly,  you  have 
great  reason  to  be.  For  a  month  and  more  now  we  have  been 
flying,  like  the  cowards  that  we  are!" 

"What  of  it?  we  are  not  the  only  ones,"  said  Jean  with  his 
practical  common  sense;  "we  do  what  we  are  told  to  do." 

But  the  young  man  broke  out  more  furiously  than  ever:  "I 
have  had  enough  of  it,  I  tell  you !  Our  imbecile  leaders,  our 
continual  defeats,  our  brave  soldiers  led  like  sheep  to  the 
slaughter — is  it  not  enough,  seeing  all  these  things,  to  make 
one  weep  tears  of  blood?  We  are  here  now  in  Sedan,  caught 
in  a  trap  from  which  there  is  no  escape;  you  can  see  the 
Prussians  closing  in  on  us  from  every  quarter,  and  certain 
destruction  is  staring  us  in  the  face;  there  is  no  hope,  the  end 
is  come.  No !  I  shall  remain  where  I  am  ;  I  may  as  well  be 
shot  as  a  deserter.  Jean,  do  you  go,  and  leave  me  here.  No! 
I  won't  go  back  there;  I  will  stay  here." 

He  sank  upon  the  pillow  in  a  renewed  outpour  of  tears.  It 
was  an  utter  breakdown  of  the  nervous  system,  sweeping 
everything  before  it,  one  of  those  sudden  lapses  into  hopeless- 
ness to  which  he  was  so  subject,  in  which  he  despised  himself 
and  all  the  world.  His  sister,  knowing  as  she  did  the  best 
way  of  treating  such  crises,  kept  an  unruffled  face. 

"That  would  not  be  a  nice  thing  to  do,  dear  Maurice — 
desert  your  post  in  the  hour  of  danger." 

He  rose  impetuously  to  a  sitting  posture:  "Then  give  me 
my  musket !  I  will  go  and  blow  my  brains  out ;  that  will  be 
the  shortest  way  of  ending  it."  Then,  pointing  with  out- 
stretched arm  to  Weiss,  where  he  sat  silent  and  motionless,  he 
said:  "There!  that  is  the  only  sensible  man  I  have  seen; 
yes,  he  is  the  only  one  who  saw  things  as  they  were.  You 


172  Ttf£  DOWNFALL 

remember  what  he  said  to  me,  Jean,  at  Miilhausen,  a  month 
ago?" 

"It  is  true,"  the  corporal  assented;  "the  gentleman  said 
we  should  be  beaten." 

And  the  scene  rose  again  before  their  mind's  eye,  that  night 
of  anxious  vigil,  the  agonized  suspense,  the  prescience  of  the 
disaster  at  Froeschwiller  hanging  in  the  sultry  heavy  air, 
while  the  Alsatian  told  his  prophetic  fears;  Germany  in 
readiness,  with  the  best  of  arms  and  the  best  of -leaders,  rising 
to  a  man  in  a  grand  outburst  of  patriotism;  France  dazed,  a 
century  behind  the  age,  debauched,  and  a  prey  to  intestine 
disorder,  having  neither  commanders,  men,  nor  arms  to  enable 
her  to  cope  with  her  powerful  adversary.  How  quickly  the 
horrible  prediction  had  proved  itself  true ! 

Weiss  raised  his  trembling  hands.  Profound  sorrow  was 
depicted  on  his  kind,  honest  face,  with  its  red  hair  and  beard 
and  its  great  prominent  blue  eyes. 

"Ah!"  he  murmured,  "I  take  no  credit  to  myself  for  being 
right.  I  don't  claim  to  be  wiser  than  others,  but  it  was  all  so 
clear,  when  one  only  knew  the  true  condition  of  affairs !  But 
if  we  are  to  be  beaten  we  shall  first  have  the  pleasure  of  killing 
some  of  those  Prussians  of  perdition.  There  is  that  comfort 
for  us;  I  believe  that  many  of  us  are  to  leave  their  bones 
there,  and  I  hope  there  will  be  plenty  of  Prussians  to  keep 
them  company;  I  would  like  to  see  the  ground  down  there  in 
the  valley  heaped  with  dead  Prussians!"  He  arose  and 
pointed  down  the  valley  of  the  Meuse.  Fire  flashed  from  his 
myopic  eyes,  which  had  exempted  him  from  service  with  the 
army.  "A  thousand  thunders!  I  would  fight,  yes,  I  would, 
if  they  would  have  me.  I  don't  know  whether  it  is  seeing 
them  assume  the  airs  of  masters  in  my  country — in  this  country 
where  once  the  Cossacks  did  such  mischief;  but  whenever  I 
think  of  their  being  here,  of  their  entering  our  houses,  I  am 
seized  with  an  uncontrollable  desire  to  cut  a  dozen  of  their 
throats.  Ah !  if  it  were  not  for  my  eyes,  if  they  would  take 
me,  I  would  go!"  Then,  after  a  moment's  silence:  "And 
besides,  who  can  tell?" 

It  was  the  hope  that  sprang  eternal,  even  in  the  breast  of 
the  least  confident,  of  the  possibility  of  victory,  and  Maurice, 
ashamed  by  this  time  of  his  tears,  listened  and  caught  at  the 
pleasing  speculation.  Was  it  not  true  that  only  the  day  befor> 
there  had  been  a  rumor  that  Bazaine  was  at  Verdun?  Truly, 


THE  DO  WNFALL  173 

it  was  time  that  Fortune  should  work  a  miracle  for  that  France 
whose  glories  she  had  so  long  protected.  Henriette,  with  an 
imperceptible  smile  on  her  lips,  silently  left  the  room,  and  was 
not  the  least  bit  surprised  when  she  returned  to  find  her 
brother  up  and  dressed,  and  ready  to  go  back  to  his  duty. 
She  insisted,  however,  that  he  and  Jean  should  take  some 
nourishment  first.  They  seated  themselves  at  the  table,  but 
the  morsels  choked  them;  their  stomachs,  weakened  by  their 
heavy  slumber,  revolted  at  the  food.  Like  a  prudent  old 
campaigner  Jean  cut  a  loaf  in  two  halves  and  placed  one  in 
Maurice's  sack,  the  other  in  his  own.  It  was  growing  dark, 
it  behooved  them  to  be  going.  Henriette,  who  was  standing 
at  the  window  watching  the  Prussian  troops  incessantly  defil- 
ing on  distant  la  Marfee,  the  swarming  legions  of  black  ants 
that  were  gradually  being  swallowed  up  in  the  gathering 
shadows,  involuntarily  murmured: 

"Oh,  war!   what  a  dreadful  thing  it  is!'* 

Maurice,  seeing  an  opportunity  to  retort  her  sermon  to  him, 
immediately  took  her  up: 

"How  is  this,  little  sister?  you  are  anxious  to  have  people 
fight,  and  you  speak  disrespectfully  of  war!" 

She  turned  and  faced  him,  valiantly  as  ever:  "It  is  true;  I 
abhor  it,  because  it  is  an  abomination  and  an  injustice.  It 
may  be  simply  because  I  am  a  woman,  but  the  thought  of  such 
butchery  sickens  me.  Why  cannot  nations  adjust  their  differ- 
ences without  shedding  blood?" 

Jean,  the  good  fellow,  seconded  her  with  a  nod  of  the  head, 
and  nothing  to  him,  too,  seemed  easier — to  him,  the  unlettered 
man — than  to  come  together  and  settle  matters  after  a  fair, 
honest  talk;  but  Maurice,  mindful  of  his  scientific  theories, 
reflected  on  the  necessity  of  war — war,  which  is  itself  existence, 
the  universal  law.  Was  it  not  poor,  pitiful  man  who  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  justice  and  peace,  while  impassive  nature 
revels  in  continual  slaughter? 

"That  is  all  very  fine!"  he  cried.  "Yes,  centuries  hence, 
if  it  shall  come  to  pass  that  then  all  the  nations  shall  be 
merged  in  one ;  centuries  hence  man  may  look  forward  to  the 
coming  of  that  golden  age ;  and  even  in  that  case  would  not 
the  end  of  war  be  the  end  of  humanity?  I  was  a  fool  but 
now;  we  must  go  and  fight,  since  it  is  nature's  law."  He 
smiled  and  repeated  his  brother-in-law's  expression:  "And 
besides,  who  can  tell?" 


1 74  THE  DO  WNFALL 

He  saw  things  now  through  the  mirage  of  his  vivid  self- 
delusion,  they  came  to  his  vision  distorted  through  the  lens  of 
his  diseased  nervous  sensibility. 

"By  the  way,"  he  continued  cheerfully,  "what  do  you  hear 
of  our  cousin  Gunther?  You  know  we  have  not  seen  a  Ger- 
man yet,  so  you  can't  look  to  me  to  give  you  any  foreign 
news." 

The  question  was  addressed  to  his  brother-in-law,  who  had 
relapsed  into  a  thoughtful  silence  and  answered  by  a  motion 
of  his  hand,  expressive  of  his  ignorance. 

"Cousin  Gunther?"  said  Henriette,  "Why,  he  belongs  to 
the  Vth  corps  and  is  with  the  Crown  Prince's  army;  I  read  it 
in  one  of  the  newspapers,  I  don't  remember  which.  Is  that 
army  in  this  neighborhood?" 

Weiss  repeated  his  gesture,  which  was  imitated  by  the  two 
soldiers,  who  could  not  be  supposed  to  know  what  enemies 
were  in  front  of  them  when  their  generals  did  .not  know. 
Rising  to  his  feet,  the  master  of  the  house  at  last  made  use  of 
articulate  speech. 

"Come  along;  I  will  go  with  you.  I  learned  this  afternoon 
where  the  io6th  s  camp  is  situated."  He  told  his  wife  that 
she  need  not  expect  to  see  him  again  that  night,  as  he  would 
sleep  at  Bazeilles,  where  they  had  recently  bought  and  fur- 
nished a  little  place  to  serve  them  as  a  residence  during  the 
hot  months.  It  was  near  a  dyehouse  that  belonged  to 
M.  Delaherche.  The  accountant's  mind  was  ill  at  ease  in 
relation  to  certain  stores  that  he  had  placed  in  the  cellar — a 
cask  of  wine  and  a  couple  of  sacks  of  potatoes;  the  house 
would  certainly  be  visited  by  marauders  if  it  was  left  unpro- 
tected, he  said,  while  by  occupying  it  that  night  he  would 
doubtless  save  it  from  pillage.  His  wife  watched  him  closely 
while  he  was  speaking. 

"You  need  not  be  alarmed,"  he  added,  with  a  smile;  "I 
harbor  no  darker  design  than  the  protection  of  our  property, 
and  I  pledge  my  word  that  if  the  village  is  attacked,  or  if 
there  is  any  appearance  of  danger,  I  will  come  home  at  once." 

"Well,  then,  go,"  she  said.  "But  remember,  if  you  are 
not  back  in  good  season  you  will  see  me  out  there  looking  for 
you." 

Henriette  went  with  them  to  the  door,  where  she  embraced 
Maurice  tenderly  and  gave  Jean  a  warm  clasp  of  the  hand. 

"I  intrust  my  brother  to  your  care  once  more.  He  has  told 
tie  of  your  kindness  to  him,  and  I  love  you  for  it." 


THE  DOWNFALL  175 

He  was  too  flustered  to  do  more  than  return  the  pressure  of 
the  small,  firm  hand.  His  first  impression  returned  to  him 
again,  and  he  beheld  Henriette  in  the  light  in  which  she  had 
first  appeared  to  him,  with  her  bright  hair  of  the  hue  of  ripe 
golden  grain,  so  alert,  so  sunny,  so  unselfish,  that  her  presence 
seemed  to  pervade  the  air  like  a  caress. 

Once  they  were  outside  they  found  the  same  gloomy  and 
forbidding  Sedan  that  had  greeted  their  eyes  that  morning. 
Twilight  with  its  shadows  had  invaded  the  narrow  streets, 
sidewalk  and  carriage-way .  alike  were  filled  with  a  confused, 
surging  throng.  Most  of  the  shops  were  closed,  the  houses 
seemed  to  be  dead  or  sleeping,  while  out  of  doors  the  crowd 
was  so  dense  that  men  trod  on  one  another.  With  some  little 
difficulty,  however,  they  succeeded  in  reaching  the  Place  de 
1'Hotel  de  Ville,  where  they  encountered  M.  Delaherche, 
intent  on  picking  up  the  latest  news  and  seeing  what  was  to 
be  seen.  He  at  once  came  up  and  greeted  them,  apparently 
delighted  to  meet  Maurice,  to  whom  he  said  that  he  had  just 
returned  from  accompanying  Captain  Beaudoin  over  to  Floing, 
where  the  regiment  was  posted,  and  he  became,  if  that  were 
possible,  even  more  gracious  than  ever  upon  learning  that 
Weiss  proposed  to  pass  the  night  at  Bazeilles,  where  he  him- 
self, he  declared,  had  just  been  telling  the  captain  that  he 
intended  to  take  a  bed,  in  order  to  see  how  things  were  look- 
ing at  the  dyehouse. 

"We'll  go  together  and  be  company  for  each  other,  Weiss. 
But  first  let's  go  as  far  as  the  Sous-Prefecture;  we  may  be 
able  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  Emperor." 

Ever  since  he  had  been  so  near  having  the  famous  conver- 
sation with  him  at  Baybel  his  mind  had  been  full  of  Napoleon 
III. ;  he  was  not  satisfied  until  he  had  induced  the  two  sol- 
diers to  accompany  him.  The  Place  de  la  Sous-Prefecture 
was  comparatively  empty;  a  few  men  were  standing  about  in 
groups,  engaged  in  whispered  conversation,  while  occasionally 
an  officer  hurried  by,  haggard  and  careworn.  The  bright 
hues  of  the  foliage  were  beginning  to  fade  and  grow  dim  in  the 
melancholy,  thick-gathering  shades  of  night ;  the  hoarse  mur- 
mur of  the  Meuse  was  heard  as  its  current  poured  onward 
beneath  the  houses  to  the  right.  Among  the  whisperers  it  was 
related  how  the  Emperor — who  with  the  greatest  difficulty  had 
been  prevailed  on  to  leave  Carignan  the  night  before  about 
eleven  o'clock — when  entreated  to  push  on  to  Mezieres  had 
refused  point-blank  to  abandon  the  post  of  danger  and  take  a 


176  THE  DOWNFALL 

step  that  would  prove  so  demoralizing  to  the  troops.  Others 
asserted  that  he  was  no  longer  in  the  city,  that  he  had  fled, 
leaving  behind  him  a  dummy  emperor,  one  of  his  officers 
dressed  in  his  uniform,  a  man  whose  startling  resemblance  to 
his  imperial  master  had  often  puzzled  the  army.  Others 
again  declared,  and  called  upon  their  honor  to  substantiate 
their  story,  that  they  had  seen  the  army  wagons  containing  the 
imperial  treasure,  one  hundred  millions,  all  in  brand-new 
twenty-franc  pieces,  drive  into  the  courtyard  of  the  Prefecture. 
This  convoy  was,  in  fact,  neither  more  nor  less  than  the  vehi- 
cles for  the  personal  use  of  the  Emperor  and  his  suite,  the 
char  a  bane,  the  two  caliches,  the  twelve  baggage  and  supply 
wagons,  which  had  almost  excited  a  riot  in  the  villages  through 
which  they  had  passed — Courcelles,  le  Chene,  Raucourt; 
assuming  in  men's  imagination  the  dimensions  of  a  huge  train 
that  had  blocked  the  road  and  arrested  the  march  of  armies, 
and  which  now,  shorn  of  their  glory,  execrated  by  all,  had 
come  in  shame  and  disgrace  to  hide  themselves  among  the 
sous-prefect's  lilac  bushes. 

While  Delaherche  was  raising  himself  on  tiptoe  and  trying 
to  peer  through  the  windows  of  the  rez-de-chaussfo,  an  old 
woman  at  his  side,  some  poor  day- worker  of  the  neighborhood, 
with  shapeless  form  and  hands  calloused  and  distorted  by 
many  years  of  toil,  was  mumbling  between  her  teeth: 

"An  emperor — I  should  like  to  see  one  once — just  once — so 
I  could  say  I  had  seen  him." 

Suddenly  Delaherche  exclaimed,  seizing  Maurice  by  the  arm : 

"See,  there  he  is!  at  the  window,  to  the  left.  I  had  a 
good  view  of  him  yesterday;  I  can't  be  mistaken.  There,  he 
has  just  raised  the  curtain ;  see,  that  pale  face,  close  to  the 
glass." 

The  old  woman  had  overheard  him  and  stood  staring  with 
wide-open  mouth  and  eyes,  for  there,  full  in  the  window,  was 
an  apparition  that  resembled  a  corpse  more  than  a  living 
being;  its  eyes  were  lifeless,  its  features  distorted ;  even  the 
mustache  had  assumed  a  ghastly  whiteness  in  that  final  agony. 
The  old  woman  was  dumfounded;  forthwith  she  turned  her 
back  and  marched  off  with  a  look  of  supreme  contempt. 

"That  thing  an  emperor!   a  likely  story." 

A  zouave  was  standing  near,  one  of  those  fugitive  soldiers 
who  were  in  no  haste  to  rejoin  their  commands.  Brandishing 
his  chassepot  and  expectorating  threats  and  maledictions,  he 
said  to  his  companion: 


THE  DOWNFALL  177 

"Wait!   see  me  put  a  bullet  in  his  head!" 

Delaherche  remonstrated  angrily,  but  by  that  time  the 
Emperor  had  disappeared.  The  hoarse  murmur  of  the 
Meuse  continued  uninterruptedly ;  a  wailing  lament,  inexpres- 
sibly mournful,  seemed  to  pass  above  them  through  the  air, 
where  the  darkness  was  gathering  intensity.  Other  sounds 
rose  in  the  distance,  like  the  hollow  muttering  of  the  rising 
storm;  were  they  the  "March!  march!"  that  terrible  order 
from  Paris  that  had  driven  that  ill-starred  man  onward  day  by 
day,  dragging  behind  him  along  the  roads  of  his  defeat  the 
irony  of  his  imperial  escort,  until  now  he  was  brought  face  to 
face  with  the  ruin  he  had  foreseen  and  come  forth  to  meet? 
What  multitudes  of.  brave  men  were  to  lay  down  their  lives  for 
his  mistakes,  and  how  complete  the  wreck,  in  all  his  being,  of 
that  sick  man,  that  sentimental  dreamer,  awaiting  in  gloomy 
silence  the  fulfillment  of  his  destiny! 

Weiss  and  Delaherche  accompanied  the  two  soldiers  to  the 
plateau  of  Floing,  where  the  yth  corps  camps  were. 

"Adieu!"  said  Maurice  as  he  embraced  his  brother-in-law 

"No,  no;  not  adieu,  the  deuce!     Au  revoir  !  "  the  manu 
facturer  gayly  cried. 

Jean's  instinct  led  him  at  once  to  their  regiment,  the  tents 
of  which  were  pitched  behind  the  cemetery,  where  the  ground 
of  the  plateau  begins  to  fall  away.  It  was  nearly  dark,  but 
there  was  sufficient  light  yet  remaining  in  the  sky  to  enable 
them  to  distinguish  the  black  huddle  of  roofs  above  the  city, 
and  further  in  the  distance  Balan  and  Bazeilles,  lying  in  the 
broad  meadows  that  stretch  away  to  the  range  of  hills  between 
Remilly  and  Frenois,  while  to  the  right  was  the  dusky  wood  of 
la  Garenne,  and  to  the  left  the  broad  bosom  of  the  Meuse  had 
the  dull  gleam  of  frosted  silver  in  the  dying  daylight.  Mau- 
rice surveyed  the  broad  landscape  that  was  momentarily  fad- 
ing in  the  descending  shadows. 

"Ah,  here  is  the  corporal!"  said  Chouteau.  "I  wonder  if 
he  has  been  looking  after  our  rations!" 

The  camp  was  astir  with  life  and  bustle.  All  day  the  men 
had  been  coming  in,  singly  and  in  little  groups,  and  the  crowd 
and  confusion  were  such  that  the  officers  made  no  pretense  of 
punishing  or  even  reprimanding  them;  they  accepted  thank- 
fully those  who  were  so  kind  as  to  return  and  asked  no  ques- 
tions. Captain  Beaudoin  had  made  his  appearance  only  a 
short  time  before,  and  it  was  about  two  o'clock  when  Lieu- 
tenant Rochas  had  brought  in  his  collection  of  stragglers- 


*78  THE  DOWNFALL 

about  one-third  of  the  company  strength.  Now  the  ranks 
were  nearly  full  once  more.  Some  of  the  men  were  drunk, 
others  had  not  been  able  to  secure  even  a  morsel  of  bread  and 
were  sinking  from  inanition;  again  there  had  been  no  distri- 
bution of  rations.  Loubet,  however,  had  discovered  some  cab- 
bages in  a  neighboring  garden,  and  cooked  them  after  a  fashion, 
but  there  was  no  salt  or  lard ;  the  empty  stomachs  continued 
to  assert  their  claims. 

"Come,  now,  corporal,  you  are  a  knowing  old  file,"  Chou- 
teau  tauntingly  continued,  "what  have  you  got  for  us?  Oh, 
it's  not  for  myself  I  care;  Loubet  and  I  had  a  good  break- 
fast; a  lady  gave  it  us.  You  were  not  at  distribution,  then?" 

Jean  beheld  a  circle  of  expectant  eyes  bent  on  him;  the 
squad  had  been  waiting  for  him  with  anxiety,  Pache  and 
Lapoulle  in  particular,  luckless  dogs,  who  had  found  nothing 
they  could  appropriate;  they  all  relied  on  him,  who,  as  they 
expressed  it,  could  get  bread  out  of  a  stone.  And  the  cor- 
poral's conscience  smote  him  for  having  abandoned  his  men ; 
he  took  pity  on  them  and  divided  among  them  half  the  bread 
that  he  had  in  his  sack! 

"Name  o'  God!  Name  o'  God!"  grunted  Lapoulle  as  he 
contentedly  munched  the  dry  bread ;  it  was  all  he  could  find 
to  say;  while  Pache  repeated  a  Pater  and  an  Ave  under  his 
breath  to  make  sure  that  Heaven  should  not  forget  to  send 
him  his  breakfast  in  the  morning. 

Gaude,  the  bugler,  with  his  darkly  mysterious  air,  as  of  a 
man  who  has  had  troubles  of  which  he  does  not  care  to  speak, 
sounded  the  call  for  evening  muster  with  a  glorious  fanfare; 
but  there  was  no  necessity  for  sounding  taps  that  night,  the 
camp  was  immediately  enveloped  in  profound  silence.  And 
when  he  had  verified  the  names  and  seen  that  none  of  his  half- 
section  were  missing,  Sergeant  Sapin,  with  his  thin,  sickly  face 
and  his  pinched  nose,  softly  said: 

"There  will  be  one  less  to-morrow  night." 

Then,  as  he  saw  Jean  looking  at  him  inquiringly,  he  added 
with  calm  conviction,  his  eyes  bent  upon  the  blackness  of  the 
night,  as  if  reading  there  the  destiny  that  he  predicted: 

"It  will  be  mine;   I  shall  be  killed  to-morrow." 

It  was  nine  o'clock,  with  promise  of  a  chilly,  uncomfort- 
able night,  for  a  dense  mist  had  risen  from  the  surface  of  the 
river,  so  that  the  stars  were  no  longer  visible.  Maurice  shiv- 
ered, where  he  lay  with  Jean  beneath  a  hedge,  and  said  they 
would  do  better  to  go  and  seek  the  shekel  of  the  tent;  the  rest 


THE  DOWNFALL  179 

they  had  taken  that  day  had  left  them  wakeful,  their  joints 
seemed  stiffer  and  their  bones  sorer  than  before ;  neither  could 
sleep.  They  envied  Lieutenant  Rochas,  who,  stretched  on 
the  damp  ground  and  wrapped  in  his  blanket,  was  snoring  like 
a  trooper,  not  far  away.  For  a  long  time  after  that  they 
watched  with  interest  the  feeble  light  of  a  candle  that  was 
burning  in  a  large  tent  where  the  colonel  and  some  officers 
were  in  consultation.  All  that  evening  M.  de  Vineuil  had 
manifested  great  uneasiness  that  he  had  received  no  instruc- 
tions to  guide  him  in  the  morning.  He  felt  that  his  regiment 
was  too  much  "in  the  air,"  too  much  advanced,  although 
it  had  already  fallen  back  from  the  exposed  position  that 
it  had  occupied  earlier  in  the  day.  Nothing  had  been 
seen  of  General  Bourgain-Desfeuilles,  who  was  said  to  be  ill 
in  bed  at  the  inn  of  the  Golden  Cross,  and  the  colonel  decided 
to  send  one  of  his  officers  to  advise  him  of  the  danger  of  their 
new  position  in  the  too  extended  line  of  the  yth  corps,  which 
had  to  cover  the  long  stretch  from  the  bend  in  the  Meuse  to 
the  wood  of  la  Garenne.  There  could  be  no  doubt  that  the 
enemy  would  attack  with  the  first  glimpse  of  daylight;  only 
for  seven  or  eight  hours  now  would  that  deep  tranquillity 
remain  unbroken.  And  shortly  after  the  dim  light  in  the 
colonel's  tent  was  extinguished  Maurice  was  amazed  to  see 
Captain  Beaudoin  glide  by,  keeping  close  to  the  hedge,  with 
furtive  steps,  and  vanish  in  the  direction  of  Sedan. 

The  darkness  settled  down  on  them,  denser  and  denser; 
the  chill  mists  rose  from  the  stream  and  enshrouded  every- 
thing in  a  dank,  noisome  fog. 

"Are  you  asleep,  Jean?" 

Jean  was  asleep,  and  Maurice  was  alone.  He  could  not 
endure  the  thought  of  going  to  the  tent  where  Lapoulle  and 
the  rest  of  them  were  slumbering;  he  heard  their  snoring, 
responsive  to  Rochas'  strains,  and  envied  them.  If  our  great 
captains  sleep  soundly  the  night  before  a  battle,  it  is  like 
enough  for  the  reason  that  their  fatigue  will  not  let  them  do 
otherwise.  He  was  conscious  of  no  sound  save  the  equal 
deep-drawn  breathing  of  that  slumbering  multitude,  rising  from 
the  darkening  camp  like  the  gentle  respiration  of  some  huge 
monster;  beyond  that  all  was  void.  He  only  knew  that  the 
5th  corps  was  close  at  hand,  encamped  beneath  the  rampart, 
that  the  ist's  line  extended  from  the  wood  of  la  Garenne  to  la 
Moncelle,  while  the  i2th  was  posted  on  the  other  side  of  the 
city,  at  Bazeilles;  and  all  were  sleeping;  the  whole  length  of 


i8o  THE  DOWNFALL 

that  long  line,  from  the  nearest  tent  to  the  most  remote,  for 
miles  and  miles,  that  low,  faint  murmur  ascended  in  rhythmic 
unison  from  the  dark,  mysterious  bosom  of  the  night.  Then 
outside  this  circle  lay  another  region,  the  realm  of  the 
unknown,  whence  also  sounds  came  intermittently  to  his  ears, 
so  vague,  so  distant,  that  he  scarcely  knew  whether  they  were 
not  the  throbbings  of  his  own  excited  pulses ;  the  indistinct 
trot  of  cavalry  plashing  over  the  low  ground,  the  dull  rumble 
of  gun  and  caisson  along  the  roads,  and,  still  more  marked, 
the  heavy  tramp  of  marching  men ;  the  gathering  on  the 
heights  above  of  that  black  swarm,  engaged  in  strengthening 
the  meshes  of  their  net,  from  which  night  itself  had  not  served 
to  divert  them.  And  below,  there  by  the  river's  side,  was 
there  not  the  flash  of  lights  suddenly  extinguished,  was  not 
that  the  sound  of  hoarse  voices  shouting  orders,  adding  to  the 
dread  suspense  of  that  long  night  of  terror  while  waiting  for 
the  coming  of  the  dawn? 

Maurice  put  forth  his  hand  and  felt  for  Jean's;  at  last  he 
slumbered,  comforted  by  the  sense  of  human  companionship. 
From  a  steeple  in  Sedan  came  the  deep  tones  of  a  bell,  slowly, 
mournfully,  tolling  the  hour;  then  all  was  blank  and  void. 


PART  SECOND. 


I. 

WEISS,  in  the  obscurity  of  his  little  room  at  Bazeilles,  was 
aroused  by  a  commotion  that  caused  him  to  leap  from 
his  bed.  It  was  the  roar  of  artillery.  Groping  about  in  the 
darkness  he  found  and  lit  a  candle  to  enable  him  to  consult 
his  watch  :  it  was  four  o'clock,  just  beginning  to  be  light. 
He  adjusted  his  double  eyeglass  upon  his  nose  and  looked 
out  into  the  main  street  of  the  village,  the  road  that  leads  to 
Douzy,  but  it  was  filled  with  a  thick  cloud  of  something  that 
resembled  dust,  which  made  it  impossible  to  distinguish  any- 
thing. He  passed  into  the  other  room,  the  windows  of  which 
commanded  a  view  of  the  Meuse  and  the  intervening 
meadows,  and  saw  that  the  cause  of  his  obstructed  vision  was 
the  morning  mist  arising  from  the  river.  In  the  distance,  be- 
hind the  veil  of  fog,  the  guns  were  barking  more  fiercely 
across  the  stream.  All  at  once  a  French  battery,  close  at 
hand,  opened  in  reply,  with  such  a  tremendous  crash  that  the 
walls  of  the  little  house  were  shaken. 

Weiss's  house  was  situated  near  the  middle  of  the  village, 
on  the  right  of  the  road  and  not  far  from  the  Place  de 
1'Eglise.  Its  front,  standing  back  a  little  from  the  street, 
displayed  a  single  story  with  three  windows,  surmounted  by 
an  attic  ;  in  the  rear  was  a  garden  of  some  extent  that  sloped 
gently  downward  toward  the  meadows  and  commanded  a 
wide  panoramic  view  of  the  encircling  hills,  from  Remilly  to 
Frenois.  Weiss,  with  the  sense  of  responsibility  of  his  new 
proprietorship  strong  upon  him,  had  spent  the  night  in  bury- 
ing his  provisions  in  the  cellar  and  protecting  his  furniture,  as 
far  as  possible,  against  shot  and  shell  by  applying  mattresses 
to  the  windows,  so  that  it  was  nearly  two  o'clock  before  he 
got  to  bed.  His  blood  boiled  at  the  idea  that  the  Prussians 
might  come  and  plunder  the  house,  for  which  he  had  toiled  so 
long  and  which  had  as  vet  afforded  him  so  little  enjoyment 

x8s 


THE  DOWNFALL 


.(1  a  voice  summoning  him  from  the  street. 
A  Weiss,  are  you  awake?" 

descended  and  found  it  was  Delaherche,  who  had 
"passed  the  night  at  his  dyehouse,  a  large  brick  structure, 
next  door  to  the  accountant's  abode.  The  operatives;  had  all 
fled,  taking  to  the  woods  and  making  for  the  Belgian  frontier, 
and  there  was  no  one  left  to  guard  the  property  but  the 
woman  concierge,  Fran£oise  Quittard  by  name,  the  widow  of  a 
mason  ;  and  she  also,  beside  herself  with  terror,  would  have 
gone  with  the  others  had  it  not  been  for  her  ten-year-old  boy 
Charles,  who  was  so  ill  with  typhoid  fever  that  he  could  not 
be  moved. 

"  I  say,"  Delaherche  continued,  "  do  you  hear  that  ?  It  is  a 
promising  beginning.  Our  best  course  is  to  get  back  to  Sedan 
as  soon  as  possible." 

Weiss's  promise  to  his  wife,  that  he  would  leave  Bazeilles  at 
the  first  sign  of  danger,  had  been  given  in  perfect  good  faith, 
and  he  had  fully  intended  to  keep  it ;  but  as  yet  there  was  only 
an  artillery  duel  at  long  range,  and  the  aim  could  not  be  accu- 
rate enough  to  do  much  damage  in  the  uncertain,  misty  light 
of  early  morning. 

"  Wait  a  bit,  confound  it !"  he  replied.    "There  is  no  hurry." 

Delaherche,  too,  was  curious  to  see  what  would  happen ; 
his  curiosity  made  him  valiant.  He  had  been  so  interested  in 
the  preparations  for  defending  the  place  that  he  had  not  slept 
a  wink.  General  Lebrun,  commanding  the  i2th  corps,  had 
received  notice  that  he  would  be  attacked  at  daybreak,  and 
had  kept  his  men  occupied  during  the  night  in  strengthening 
the  defenses  of  Bazeilles,  which  he  had  instructions  to  hold  in 
spite  of  everything.  Barricades  had  been  thrown  up  across 
the  Douzy  road,  and  all  the  smaller  streets  ;  small  parties  of 
soldiers  had  been  thrown  into  the  houses  by  way  of  garrison ; 
every  narrow  lane,  every  garden  had  become  a  fortress,  and 
since  three  o'clock  the  troops,  awakened  from  their  slumbers 
without  beat  of  drum  or  call  of  bugle  in  the  inky  blackness, 
had  been  at  their  posts,  their  chassepots  freshly  greased  and 
cartridge  boxes  filled  with  the  obligatory  ninety  rounds  of 
ammunition.  It  followed  that  when  the  enemy  opened  their 
fire  no  one  was  taken  unprepared,  and  the  French  batteries, 
posted  to  the  rear  between  Balan  and  Bazeilles,  immediately 
commenced  to  answer,  rather  with  the  idea  of  showing  they 
were  awake  than  for  any  other  purpose,  for  in  the  dense  fog 
that  enveloped  everything  the  practice  was  of  the  wildest. 


THE  DOWNFALL  183 

"  The  dyehouse  will  be  well  defended,"  said  Delaherche. 
"  I  have  a  whole  section  in  it.  Come  and  see." 

It  was  true  ;  forty  and  odd  men  of  the  infanterie  de  marine 
had  been  posted  there  under  the  command  of  a  lieutenant,  a 
tall,  light-haired  young  fellow,  scarcely  more  than  a  boy,  but 
with  an  expression  of  energy  and  determination  on  his  face. 
His  men  had  already  taken  full  possession  of  the  building, 
some  of  them  being  engaged  in  loopholing  the  shutters  of 
the  ground-floor  windows  that  commanded  the  street,  while 
others,  in  the  courtyard  that  overlooked  the  meadows  in  the 
rear,  were  breaching  the  wall  for  musketry.  It  was  in  this 
courtyard  that  Delaherche  and  Weiss  found  the  young  officer, 
straining  his  eyes  to  discover  what  was  hidden  behind  the 
impenetrable  mist. 

"Confound  this  fog!"  he  murmured.  "We  can't  fight 
when  we  don't  know  where  the  enemy  is."  Presently  he  asked, 
with  no  apparent  change  of  voice  or  manner  :  "What  day  of 
the  week  is  this  ?  " 

*'  Thursday,"  Weiss  replied. 

"  Thursday,  that's  so.  Hanged  if  I  don't  think  the  world 
might  come  to  an  end  and  we  not  know  it !  " 

But  just  at  that  moment  the  Uninterrupted  roar  of  the  ar- 
tillery was  diversified  by  a  brisk  rattle  of  musketry  proceeding 
from  the  edge  of  the  meadows,  at  a  distance  of  two  or  three 
hundred  yards.  And  at  the  same  time  there  was  a  transforma- 
tion, as  rapid  and  startling,  almost,  as  the  stage  effect  in  a 
fairy  spectacle  :  the  sun  rose,  the  exhalations  of  the  Meuse 
were  whirled  away  like  bits  of  finest,  filmiest  gauze,  and  the 
blue  sky  was  revealed, -in  serene  limpidity,  undimmed  by  a 
single  cloud.  It  was  the  exquisite  morning  of  a  faultless 
summer  day. 

"  Ah  !  "  exclaimed  Delaherche,  "  they  are  crossing  the  rail- 
way bridge.  See,  they  are  making  their  way  along  the  track. 
How  stupid  of  us  not  to  have  blown  up  the  bridge  !  " 

The  officer's  face  bore  an  expression  of  dumb  rage.  The 
mines  had  been  prepared  and  charged,  he  averred,  but  they 
had  fought  four  hours  the  day  before  to  regain  possession 
of  the  bridge  and  then  had  forgot  to  touch  them  off. 

"  It  is  just  our  luck,"  he  curtly  said. 

Weiss  was  silent,  watching  the  course  of  events  and  en- 
deavoring to  form  some  idea  of  the  true  state  of  affairs.  The 
position  of  the  French  in  Bazeilles  was  a  very  strong  one. 
The  village  commanded  the  meadows,  and  was  bisected  by 


1 84  THE  DOWNFALL 

the  Douzy  road,  which,  turning  sharp  to  the  left,  passed 
under  the  walls  of  the  chateau,  while  another  road,  the  one 
that  led  to  the  railway  bridge,  bent  around  to  the  right  and 
forked  at  the  Place  de  1'Eglise.  There  was  no  cover  for 
any  force  advancing  by  these  two  approaches  ;  the  Germans 
would  be  obliged  to  traverse  the  meadows  and  the  wide, 
bare  level  that  lay  between  the  outskirts  of  the  village 
and  the  Meuse  and  the  railway.  Their  prudence  in  avoid- 
ing unnecessary  risks  was  notorious,  hence  it  seemed  improb- 
able that  the  real  attack  would  come  from  that  quarter.  They 
kept  coming  across  the  bridge,  however,  in  deep  masses,  and 
that  notwithstanding  the  slaughter  that  a  battery  of  mitrail- 
leuses, posted  at  the  edge  of  the  village,  effected  in  their 
ranks,  and  all  at  once  those  who  had  crossed  rushed  forward 
in  open  order,  under  cover  of  the  straggling  willows,  the  col- 
umns were  re-formed  and  began  to  advance.  It  was  from 
there  that  the  musketry  fire,  which  was  growing  hotter,  had 
proceeded. 

"  Oh,  those  are  Bavarians,"  Weiss  remarked.  "  I  recog- 
nize them  by  the  braid  on  their  helmets." 

But  there  were  other  columns,  moving  to  the  right  and 
partially  concealed  by  the  railway  embankment,  whose  object, 
it  seemed  to  him,  was  to  gain  the  cover  of  some  trees  in  the 
distance,  whence  they  might  descend  and  take  Bazeilles  in 
flank  and  rear.  Should  they  succeed  in  effecting  a  lodgment 
in  the  park  of  Montivilliers,  the  village  might  become  unten- 
able. This  was  no  more  than  a  vague,  half-formed  idea, 
that  flitted  through  his  mind  for  a  moment  and  faded  as  rap- 
idly as  it  had  come  ;  the  attack  in  fi£>nt  was  becoming  more 
determined,  and  his  every  faculty  was  concentrated  on  the 
struggle  that  was  assuming,  with  every  moment,  larger  dimen- 
sions. 

Suddenly  he  turned  his  head  and  looked  away  to  the 
north,  over  the  city  of  Sedan,  where  the  heights  of  Floing 
were  visible  in  the  distance.  A  battery  had  just  commenced 
firing  from  that  quarter  ;  the  smoke  rose  in  the  bright  sun- 
shine in  little  curls  and  wreaths,  and  the  reports  came  to 
his  ears  very  distinctly.  It  was  in  the  neighborhood  of  five 
o'clock. 

"  Well,  well,"  he  murmured,  "  they  are  all  going  to  have  a 
hand  in  the  business,  it  seems." 

The  lieutenant  of  marines,  who  had  turned  his  eyes  in  the 
same  direction,  spoke  up  confidently  ; 


THE  DOWNFALL  185 

"  Oh  !  Bazeilles  is  the  key  of  the  position.  This  is  the  spot 
where  the  battle  will  be  won  or  lost." 

"  Do  you  think  so  ?  "  Weiss  exclaimed. 

"  There  is  not  the  slightest  doubt  of  it.  It  is  certainly  the 
marshal's  opinion,  for  he  was  here  last  night  and  told  us  that 
we  must  hold  the  village  if  it  cost  the  life  of  every  man  of 
us." 

Weiss  slowly  shook  his  head,  and  swept  the  horizon  with  a 
glance  ;  then  in  a  low,  faltering  voice,  as  if  speaking  to  him. 
self,  he  said  : 

4<  No — no  !  I  am  sure  that  is  a  mistake.  I  fear  the  danger 
lies  in  another  quarter — where,  or  what  it  is,  I  dare  not 
say " 

He  said  no  more.  He  simply  opened  wide  his  arms,  like 
the  jaws  of  a  vise,  then,  turning  to  the  north,  brought  his 
hands  together,  as  if  the  vise  had  closed  suddenly  upon  some 
object  there. 

This  was  the  fear  that  had  filled  his  mind  for  the  last  twenty- 
four  hours,  for  he  was  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  country 
and  had  watched  narrowly  every  movement  of  the  troops  dur- 
ing the  previous  day,  and  now,  again,  while  the  broad  valley 
before  him  lay  basking  in  the  radiant  sunlight,  his  gaze  re- 
verted to  the  hills  of  the  left  bank,  where,  for  the  space  of  all 
one  day  and  all  one  night,  his  eyes  had  beheld  the  black 
swarm  of  the  Prussian  hosts  moving  steadily  onward  to  some 
appointed  end.  A  battery  had  opened  fire  from  Remilly,  over 
to  the  left,  but  the  one  from  which  the  shells  were  now  begin- 
ning to  reach  the  French  position  was  posted  at  Pont-Maugis, 
on  the  river  bank.  He  adjusted  his  binocle  by  folding  the 
glasses  over,  the  one  upon  the  other,  to  lengthen  its  range 
and  enable  him  to  discern  w'^at  was  hidden  among  the  recesses 
of  the  wooded  slopes,  but  could  distinguish  nothing  save  the 
white  smoke-wreaths  that  rose  momently  on  the  tranquil 
air  and  floated  lazily  away  over  the  crests.  That  human  tor- 
rent that  he  had  seen  so  lately  streaming  over  those  hills, 
where  was  it  now — where  were  massed  those  innumerable 
hosts  ?  At  last,  at  the  corner  of  a  pine  wood,  above  Noyers 
and  Frenois,  he  succeeded  in  making  out  a  little  cluster  of 
mounted  men  in  uniform — some  general,  doubtless,  and  his 
staff.  And  off  there  to  the  west  the  Meuse  curved  in  a  great 
loop,  and  in  that  direction  lay  their  sole  line  of  retreat  on 
Mezieres,  a  narrow  road  that  traversed  the  pass  of  Saint- 
Albert,  between  that  loop  and  the  dark  forest  of  Ardennes, 


1 86  THE  DOWNFALL 

While  reconnoitering  the  day  before  he  had  met  a  general 
officer  who,  he  afterward  learned,  was  Ducrot,  commanding 
the  ist  corps,  on  a  by-road  in  the  valley  of  Givonne,  and  had 
made  bold  to  call  his  attention  to  the  importance  of  that,  their 
only  line  of  retreat.  If  the  army  did  not  retire  at  once  by 
that  road  while  it  was  still  open  to  them,  if  it  waited  until  the 
Prussians  should  have  crossed  the  Meuse  at  Donchery  and 
come  up  in  force  to  occupy  the  pass,  it  would  be  hemmed  in 
and  driven  back  on  the  Belgian  frontier.  As  early  even  as 
the  evening  of  that  day  the  movement  would  have  been  too 
late.  It  was  asserted  that  the  uhlans  had  possession  of  the 
bridge,  another  bridge  that  had  not  been  destroyed,  for  the 
reason,  this  time,  that  some  one  had  neglected  to  provide  the 
necessary  powder.  And  Weiss  sorrowfully  acknowledged  to 
himself  that  the  human  torrent,  the  invading  horde,  could  now 
be  nowhere  else  than  on  the  plain  of  Donchery,  invisible  to 
him,  pressing  onward  to  occupy  Saint-Albert  pass,  pushing 
forward  its  advanced  guards  to  Saint-Menges  and  Floing, 
whither,  the  day  previous,  he  had  conducted  Jean  and 
Maurice.  In  the  brilliant  sunshine  the  steeple  of  Floing 
church  appeared  like  a  slender  needle  of  dazzling  whiteness. 

And  off  to  the  eastward  the  other  arm  of  the  powerful  vise' 
was  slowly  closing  in  on  them.  Casting  his  eyes  to  the  north, 
where  there  was  a  stretch  of  level  ground  between  the  plateaus 
of  Illy  and  of  Floing,  he  could  make  out  the  line  of  battle  of 
the  7th  corps,  feebly  supported  by  the  5th,  which  was  posted 
in  reserve  under  the  ramparts  of  the  city  ;  but  he  could  not 
discern  what  was  occurring  to  the  east,  along  the  valley  of  the 
Givonne,  where  the  ist  corps  was  stationed,  its  line  stretching 
from  the  wood  of  la  Garenne  to  Daigny  village.  Now,  how- 
ever, the  guns  were  beginning  to  thunder  in  that  direction 
also  ;  the  conflict  seeemed  to  be  raging  in  Chevalier's  wood, 
in  front  of  Daigny.  His  uneasiness  was  owing  to  reports  that 
had  been  brought  in  by  peasants  the  day  previous,  that  the 
Prussian  advance  had  reached  Francheval,  so  that  the  move- 
ment which  was  being  conducted  at  the  west,  by  way  of  Don- 
chery, was  also  in  process  of  execution  at  the  east,  by  way  of 
Francheval,  and  the  two  jaws  of  the  vise  would  come  together 
up  there  at  the  north,  near  the  Calvary  of  Illy,  unless  the  two- 
fold flanking  movement  could  be  promptly  checked.  He  knew 
nothing  of  tactics  or  strategy,  had  nothing  but  his  common 
sense  to  guide  him  ;  but  he  looked  with  fear  and  trembling 
on  that  great  triangle  that  had  the  Meuse  for  one  of  its  sides, 


THE  DOWNFALL  187 

and  for  the  other  two  the  7th  and  ist  corps  on  the  north  and 
east  respectively,  while  the  extreme  angle  at  the  south  was 
occupied  by  the  i2th  at  Bazeilles — all  the  three  corps  facing 
outward  on  the  periphery  of  a  semicircle,  awaiting  the  appear- 
ance of  an  enemy  who  was  to  deliver  his  attack  at  some  one 
point,  where  or  when  no  one  could  say,  but  who,  instead,  fell 
on  them  from  every  direction  at  once.  And  at  the  very  center 
of  all,  as  at  the  bottom  of  a  pit,  lay  the  city  of  Sedan,  her 
ramparts  furnished  with  antiquated  guns,  destitute  of  ammu- 
nition and  provisions. 

"Understand,"  said  Weiss,  with  a  repetition  of  his  previous 
gesture,  extending  his  arms  and  bringing  his  hands  slowly 
together,  "  that  is  how  it  will  be  unless  your  generals  keep 
their  eyes  open.  The  movement  at  Bazeilles  is  only  a 
feint- " 

But  his  explanation  was  confused  and  unintelligible  to  the 
lieutenant,  who  knew  nothing  of  the  country,  and  the  young 
man  shrugged  his  shoulders  with  an  expression  of  impatience 
and  disdain  for  the  bourgeois  in  spectacles  and  frock  coat  who 
presumed  to  set  his  opinion  against  the  marshal's.  Irritated 
to  hear  Weiss  reiterate  his  view  that  the  attack  on  Bazeilles 
was  intended  only  to  mask  other  and  more  important  move- 
ments, he  finally  shouted  : 

"  Hold  your  tongue,  will  you  !  We  shall  drive  them  all 
into  the  Meuse,  those  Bavarian  friends  of  yours,  and  that  is  all 
they  will  get  by  their  precious  feint." 

While  they  were  talking  the  enemy's  skirmishers  seemed  to 
have  come  up  closer  ;  every  now  and  then  their  bullets  were 
heard  thudding  against  the  dyehouse  wall,  and  our  men, 
kneeling  behind  the  low  parapet  of  the  courtyard,  were  begin- 
ning to  reply.  Every  second  the  report  of  a  chassepot  rang 
out,  sharp  and  clear,  upon  the  air. 

"  Oh,  of  course  !  drive  them  into  the  Meuse,  by  all  means," 
muttered  Weiss,  "and  while  we  are  about  it  we  might  as  well 
ride  them  down  and  regain  possession  of  the  Carignan  road." 
Then  addressing  himself  to  Delaherche,  who  had  stationed 
himself  behind  the  pump  where  he  might  be  out  of  the  way  of 
the  bullets  :  "  All  the  same,  it  would  have  been  their  wisest 
course  to  make  tracks  last  night  for  Mezieres,  and  if  I  were  in 
their  place  I  would  much  rather  be  there  than  here.  As  it  is, 
however,  they  have  got  to  show  fight,  since  retreat  is  out  of 
the  question  now." 

"  Are  you  coming  ?  "  asked  Delaherche,  who,  notwithstand- 


l88  THE  DOWNFALL 

ing  his  eager  curiosity,  was  beginning  to  Jook  pale  in  the  face, 
"  We  shall  be  unable  to  get  into  the  city  if  we  remain  here 
longer." 

"  Yes,  in  one  minute  I  will  be  with  you." 

In  spite  of  the  danger  that  attended  the  movement  he 
raised  himself  on  tiptoe,  possessed  by  an  irresistible  desire  to 
see  how  things  were  shaping.  On  the  right  lay  the  meadows 
that  had  been  flooded  by  order  of  the  governor  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  city,  now  a  broad  lake  stretching  from  Torcy  to 
Balan,  its  unruffled  bosom  glimmering  in  the  morning  sunlight 
with  a  delicate  azure  luster.  The  water  did  not  extend  as  far 
as  Bazeilles,  however,  and  the  Prussians  had  worked  their 
way  forward  across  the  fields,  availing  themselves  of  the 
shelter  of  every  ditch,  of  every  little  shrub  and  tree.  They 
were  now  distant  some  five  hundred  yards,  and  Weiss  was  im- 
pressed by  the  caution  with  which  they  moved,  the  doggs  1 
resolution  and  patience  with  which  they  advanced,  gaining 
ground  inch  by  inch  and  exposing  themselves  as  little  as  possi- 
ble. They  had  a  powerful  artillery  fire,  moreover,  to  sustain 
them  ;  the  pure,  cool  air  was  vocal  with  the  shrieking  of  shells. 
Raising  his  eyes  he  saw  that  the  Pont-Maugis  battery  was  not 
the  only  one  that  was  pitying  on  Bazeilles  ;  two  others,  posted 
half  way  up  the  hill  of  Liry,  had  opened  fire,  and  their  pro- 
jectiles not  only  reached  the  village,  but  swept  the  naked  plain 
of  la  Moncelle  beyond,  where  the  reserves  of  the  i2th  corps 
were,  and  even  the  wooded  slopes  of  Daigny,  held  by  a  divi- 
sion of  the  ist  corps,  were  not  beyond  their  range.  There 
was  not  a  summit,  moreover,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  stream 
that  was  not  tipped  with  flame.  The  guns  seemed  to  spring 
spontaneously  from  the  soil,  like  some  noxious  growth  ;  it  was 
a  zone  of  fire  that  grew  hotter  and  fiercer  every  moment  ; 
there  were  batteries  at  Noyers  shelling  Balan,  batteries  at 
Wadelincourt  shelling  Sedan,  and  at  Frenois,  down  under 
la  Marfee,  there  was  a  battery  whose  guns,  heavier  than  the 
rest,  sent  their  missiles  hurtling  over  the  city  to  burst  among 
the  troops  of  the  yth  corps  on  the  plateau  of  Floing.  Those 
hills  that  he  had  always  loved  so  well,  that  he  had  supposed 
were  planted  there  solely  to  delight  the  eye,  encircling  with 
their  verdurous  slopes  the  pretty,  peaceful  valley  that  lay  be- 
neath, were  now  become  a  gigantic,  frowning  fortress,  vomit- 
ing ruin  and  destruction  on  the  feeble  defenses  of  Sedan,  and 
Weiss  looked  on  them  with  terror  and  detestation.  Why  had 
steps  not  been  taken  to  defend  them  the  day  before,  if  their 


THE   DOWNFALL  189 

leaders  had  suspected  this,  or  why,  rather,  had  they  insisted  on 
holding  the  position  ? 

A  sound  of  falling  plaster  caused  him  to  raise  his  head  ;  a 
shot  had  grazed  his  house,  the  front  of  which  was  visible  to 
him  above  the  party  wall.  It  angered  him  excessively,  and 
he  growled  : 

"  Are  they  going  to  knock  it  about  my  ears,  the  brigands  ! " 

Then  close  behind  him  there  was  a  little  dull,  strange  sound 
that  he  had  never  heard  before,  and  turning  quickly  he  saw  a 
soldier,  shot  through  the  heart,  in  the  act  of  falling  backward. 
There  was  a  brief  convulsive  movement  of  the  legs  ;  the 
youthful,  tranquil  expression  of  the  face  remained,  stamped 
there  unalterably  by  the  hand  of  death.  It  was  the  first 
casualty,  and  the  accountant  was  startled  by  the  crash  of  the 
musket  falling  and  rebounding  from  the  stone  pavement  of 
the  courtyard. 

"  Ah,  I  have  seen  enough,  I  am  going,"  stammered  Dela- 
herche.  "  Come,  if  you  are  coming  ;  if  not,  I  shall  go  with- 
out you." 

The  lieutenant,  whom  their  presence  made  uneasy,  spoke  up  : 

"  It  will  certainly  be  best  for  you  to  go,  gentlemen.  The 
enemy  may  attempt  to  carry  the  place  at  any  moment." 

Then  at  last,  casting  a  parting  glance  at  the  meadows, 
where  the  Bavarians  were  still  gaining  ground,  Weiss  gave  in 
and  followed  Delaherche,  but  when  they  had  gained  the 
street  he  insisted  upon  going  to  see  if  the  fastening  of  his 
door  was  secure,  and  when  he  came  back  to  his  companion 
there  was  a  fresh  spectacle,  which  brought  them  both  to  a  halt. 

At  the  end  of  the  street,  some  three  hundred  yards  from 
where  they  stood,  a  strong  Bavarian  column  had  debouched 
from  the  Douzy  road  and  was  charging  up  the  Place  de 
1'Eglise.  The  square  was  held  by  a  regiment  of  sailor  boys, 
who  appeared  to  slacken  their  fire  for  a  moment  as  if  with 
the  intention  of  drawing  their  assailants  on ;  then,  when  the 
close-massed  column  was  directly  opposite  their  front,  a  most 
surprising  maneuver  was  swiftly  executed  :  the  men  aban- 
doned their  formation,  some  of  them  stepping  from  the  ranks 
and  flattening  themselves  against  the  house  fronts,  others 
casting  themselves  prone  upon  the  ground,  and  down  the 
vacant  space  thus  suddenly  formed  the  mitrailleuses  that  had 
been  placed  in  battery  at  the  farther  end  poured  a  perfect 
hailstorm  of  bullets.  The  column  disappeared  as  if  it  had 
been  swept  bodily  from  off  the  face  of  the  earth.  The  re- 


190  THE  DOWNFALL 

cumbent  men  sprang  to  their  feet  with  a  bound  and  charged 
the  scattered  Bavarians  with  the  bayonet,  driving  them  and 
making  the  rout  complete.  Twice  the  maneuver  was  repeated, 
each  time  with  the  same  success.  Two  women,  unwilling  to 
abandon  their  home,  a  small  house  at  the  corner  of  an  inter- 
secting lane,  were  sitting  at  their  window  ;  they  laughed  ap- 
provingly and  clapped  their  hands,  apparently  glad  to  have 
an  opportunity  to  behold  such  a  spectacle. 

"  There,  confound  it !  "  Weiss  suddenly  said,  "  I  forgot  to 
lock  the  cellar  door !  I  must  go  back.  Wait  for  me ;  I 
won't  be  a  minute." 

There  was  no  indication  that  the  enemy  contemplated  a 
renewal  of  their  attack,  and  Delaherche,  whose  curiosity  was 
reviving  after  the  shock  it  had  sustained,  was  less  eager  to 
get  away.  He  had  halted  in  front  of  his  dyehouse  and  was 
conversing  with  the  concierge,  who  had  come  for  a  moment 
to  the  door  of  the  room  she  occupied  in  the  rcz-de-chaussee. 

"  My  poor  Francoise,  you  had  better  come  along  with  us. 
A  lone  woman  among  such  dreadful  sights — I  can't  bear  to 
think  of  it  !  " 

She  raised  her  trembling  hands.  "  Ah,  sir,  I  would  have 
gone  when  the  others  went,  indeed  I  would,  if  it  had  not 
been  for  my  poor  sick  boy.  Come  in,  sir,  and  look  at 
him." 

He  did  not  enter,  but  glanced  into  the  apartment  from  the 
threshold,  and  shook  his  head  sorrowfully  at  sight  of  the 
little  fellow  in  his  clean,  white  bed,  his  face  exhibiting  the 
scarlet  hue  of  the  disease,  and  his  glassy,  burning  eyes  bent 
wistfully  on  his  mother. 

"But  why  can't  you  take  him  with  you?"  he  urged.  "I 
will  find  quarters  for  you  in  Sedan.  Wrap  him  up  warmly  in 
a  blanket,  and  come  along  with  us." 

"  Oh,  no,  sir,  I  cannot.  The  doctor  told  me  it  would  kill 
him.  If  only  his  poor  father  were  alive  !  but  we  two  are  all  that 
are  left,  and  we  must  live  for  each  other.  And  then,  perhaps 
the  Prussians  will  be  merciful ;  perhaps  they  won't  harm  a  lone 
woman  and  a  sick  boy." 

Just  then  Weiss  reappeared,  having  secured  his  premises 
to  his  satisfaction.  "There,  I  think  it  will  trouble  them 
some  to  get  in  now.  Come  on  !  And  it  is  not  going  to  be 
a  very  pleasant  journey,  either  ;  keep  close  to  the  houses, 
unless  you  want  to  come  to  grief." 

There  were  indications,  indeed,  that  the  enemy  were  mak- 


THE  DOWNFALL  I91 

ing  ready  for  another  assault.  The  infantry  fire  was  splutter- 
ing away  more  furiously  than  ever,  and  the  screaming  of  the 
shells  was  incessant.  Two  had  already  fallen  in  the  street  a 
hundred  yards  away,  and  a  third  had  imbedded  itself,  without 
bursting,  in  the  soft  ground  of  the  adjacent  garden. 

"Ah,  here  is  Fran9oise,"  continued  the  accountant.  "  I 
must  have  a  look  at  your  little  Charles.  Come,  come,  you 
have  no  cause  for  alarm  ;  he  will  be  all  right  in  a  couple  of 
days.  Keep  your  courage  up,  and  the  first  thing  you  do  go 
inside,  and  don't  put  your  nose  outside  the  door."  And  the 
two  men  at  last  started  to  go. 

"  Au  revoir,  Francoise." 

"  Au  revoir,  sirs." 

And  as  they  spoke,  there  came  an  appalling  crash.  It  was 
a  shell,  which,  having  first  wrecked  the  chimney  of  Weiss's 
house,  fell  upon  the  sidewalk,  where  it  exploded  with  such  ter- 
rific force  as  to  break  every  window  in  the  vicinity.  At  first 
it  was  impossible  to  distinguish  anything  in  the  dense  cloud  of 
dust  and  smoke  that  rose  in  the  air,  but  presently  this  drifted 
away,  disclosing  the  ruined  facade  of  the  dyehouse,  and  there, 
stretched  across  the  threshold,  Frangoise,  a  corpse,  horribly 
torn  and  mangled,  her  skull  crushed  in,  a  fearful  spectacle. 

Weiss  sprang  to  her  side.  Language  failed  him  ;  he 
could  only  express  his  feelings  by  oaths  and  imprecations. 

"  Nom  de  Dieu  !     Nom  de  Dieu  !  " 

Yes,  she  was  dead.  He  had  stooped  to  feel  her  pulse,  and 
as  he  arose  he  saw  before  him  the  scarlet  face  of  little 
Charles,  who  had  raised  himself  in  bed  to  look  at  his  mother. 
He  spoke  no  word,  he  uttered  no  cry  ;  he  gazed  with  blazing, 
tearless  eyes,  distended  as  if  they  would  start  from  their 
sockets,  upon  the  shapeless  mass  that  was  strange,  unknown  to 
him  ;  and  nothing  more. 

Weiss  found  words  at  last:  "Nom  de  Dieu!  they  have 
taken  to  killing  women  !  " 

He  had  risen  to  his  feet ;  he  shook  his  fist  at  the  Bavari- 
ans, whose  braid-trimmed  helmets  were  commencing  to  ap- 
pear again  in  the  direction  of  the  church.  The  chimney,  in 
falling,  had  crushed  a  great  hole  in  the  roof  of  his  house,  and 
the  sight  of  the  havoc  made  him  furious. 

"  Dirty  loafers  !  You  murder  women,  you  have  destroyed 
my  house.  No,  no  !  I  will  not  go  now,  I  cannot  ;  I  shall 
stay  here." 

He  darted  away  and  came  running  back  with  the  dead  sol- 


l$t  THE  DOWNFALL 

diet's  rifle  and  ammunition.  He  was  accustomed  to  carry 
a  pair  of  spectacles  on  his  person  for  use  on  occasions  of  emer- 
gency, when  he  wished  to  see  with  great  distinctness,  but  did 
not  wear  them  habitually  out  of  respect  for  the  wishes  of  his 
young  wife.  He  now  impatiently  tore  off  his  double  eyeglass 
and  substituted  the  spectacles,  and  the  big,  burly  bourgeois, 
his  overcoat  flapping  about  his  legs,  his  honest,  kindly,  round 
face  ablaze  with  wrath,  who  would  have  been  ridiculous  had  he 
not  been  so  superbly  heroic,  proceeded  to  open  fire,  peppering 
away  at  the  Bavarians  at  the  bottom  of  the  street.  It  was  in 
his  blood,  he  said  ;  he  had  been  been  hankering  for  something 
of  the  kind  ever  since  the  days  of  his  boyhood,  down  there 
in  Alsace,  when  he  had  been  told  all  those  tales  of  1814. 
"  Ah  !  you  dirty  loafers  !  you  dirty  loafers  !  "  And  he  kept 
firing  away  with  such  eagerness  that,  finally,  the  barrel  of  his 
musket  became  so  hot  it  burned  his  fingers. 

The  assault  was  made  with  great  vigor  and  determination. 
There  was  no  longer  any  sound  of  musketry  in  the  direction 
of  the  meadows.  The  Bavarians  had  gained  possession  of  a 
narrow  stream,  fringed  with  willows  and  poplars,  and  were 
making  preparations  for  ^storming  the  houses,  or  rather  for- 
tresses, in  the  Place  de  1'Eglise.  Their  skirmishers  had  fallen 
back  with  the  same  caution  that  characterized  their  advance, 
and  the  wide  grassy  plain,  dotted  here  and  there  with  a  black 
form  where  some  poor  fellow  had  laid  down  his  life,  lay  spread 
in  the  mellow,  slumbrous  sunshine  like  a  great  cloth  of  gold. 
The  lieutenant,  knowing  that  the  street  was  now  to  be  the 
scene  of  action,  had  evacuated  the  courtyard  of  the  dyehouse, 
leaving  there  only  one  man  as  guard.  He  rapidly  posted  his 
men  along  the  sidewalk  with  instructions,  should  the  enemy 
carry  the  position,  to  withdraw  into  the  building,  barricade  the 
first  floor,  and  defend  themselves  there  as  long  as  they  had  a 
cartridge  left.  The  men  fired  at  will,  lying  prone  upon  the 
ground,  and  sheltering  themselves  as  best  they  might  behind 
posts  and  every  little  projection  of  the  walls,  and  the  storm  of 
lead,  interspersed  with  tongues  of  flame  and  puffs  of  smoke, 
that  tore  through  that  broad,  deserted,  sunny  avenue  was  like 
a  downpour  of  hail  beaten  level  by  the  fierce  blast  of  winter. 
A  woman  was  seen  to  cross  the  roadway,  running  with  wild, 
uncertain  steps,  and  she  escaped  uninjured.  Next,  an  old 
man,  a  peasant,  in  his  blouse,  who  would  not  be  satisfied  until 
he  saw  his  worthless  nag  stabled,  received  a  bullet  square  in 
his  forehead,  and  the  violence  of  the  impact  was  such  that  it 


THE  DOWNFALL  193 

hurled  him  into  the  middle  of  the  street.  A  shell  had  gone 
crashing  through  the  roof  of  the  church  ;  two  others  fell  and 
set  fire  to  houses,  which  burned  with  a  pale  flame  in  the  in, 
tense  daylight,  with  a  loud  snapping  and  crackling  of  their 
timbers.  And  that  poor  woman,  who  lay  crushed  and  bleeding 
in  the  doorway  of  the  house  where  her  sick  boy  was,  that  old 
man  with  a  bullet  in  his  brain,  all  that  work  of  ruin  and  devas- 
tation, maddened  the  few  inhabitants  who  had  chosen  to  end 
their  days  in  their  native  village  rather  than  seek  safety  in 
Belgium.  Other  bourgeois,  and  workingmen  as  well,  the 
neatly  attired  citizen  alongside  the  man  in  overalls,  had  pos- 
sessed themselves  of  the  weapons  of  dead  soldiers,  and  were 
in  the  street  defending  their  firesides  or  firing  vengefully  from 
the  windows. 

"Ah!"  suddenly  said  Weiss,  "  the  scoundrels  have  got 
around  to  our  rear.  I  saw  them  sneaking  along  the  railroad 
track.  Hark  !  don't  you  hear  them  off  there  to  the  left  ?  " 

The  heavy  fire  of  musketry  that  was  now  audible  behind  the 
park  of  Montivilliers,  the  trees  of  which  overhung  the  road, 
made  it  evident  that  something  of  importance  was  occurring 
in  that  direction.  Should  the  enemy  gain  possession  of  the 
park  Bazeilles  would  be  at  their  mercy,  but  the  briskness  of 
the  firing  was  in  itself  proof  that  the  general  commanding  the 
1 2th  corps  had  anticipated  the  movement  and  that  the  posi- 
tion was  adequately  defended. 

"  Look  out,  there,  you  blockhead  !  "  exclaimed  the  lieu- 
tenant, violently  forcing  Weiss  up  against  the  wall  ;  "  do  you 
want  to  get  yourself  blown  to  pieces  ?" 

He  could  not  help  laughing  a  little  at  the  queer  figure  of 
the  big  gentleman  in  spectacles,  but  his  bravery  had  inspired 
him  with  a  very  genuine  feeling  of  respect,  so,  when  his  prac- 
ticed ear  detected  a  shell  coming  their  way,  he  had  acted  the 
part  of  a  friend  and  placed  the  civilian  in  a  safer  position. 
The  missile  landed  some  ten  paces  from  where  they  were  and 
exploded,  covering  them  both  with  earth  and  debris.  The 
citizen  kept  his  feet  and  received  not  so  much  as  a  scratch, 
while  the  officer  had  both  legs  broken. 

"It  is  well  !  "  was  all  he  said  ;  "they  have  sent  me  my 
reckoning !" 

He  caused  his  men  to  take  him  across  the  sidewalk  and 
place  him  with  his  back  to  the  wall,  near  where  the  dead 
woman  lay,  stretched  across  .  her  doorstep.  His  boyish  face 
had  lost  nothing  of  its  energy  and  determination. 


194  THE  DOWNFALL 

"  It  don't  matter,  my  children  ;  listen  to  what  I  say.  Don't 
fire  too  hurriedly  ;  take  your  time.  When  the  time  comes  for 
you  to  charge,  I  will  tell  you." 

And  he  continued  to  command  them  still,  with  head  erect, 
watchful  of  the  movements  of  the  distant  enemy.  'Another 
house  was  burning,  directly  across  the  street.  The  crash  and 
rattle  of  musketry,  the  roar  of  bursting  shells,  rent  the  air, 
thick  with  dust  and  sulphurous  smoke.  Men  dropped  at  the 
corner  of  every  lane  and  alley  ;  corpses  scattered  here  and 
there  upon  the  pavement,  singly  or  in  little  groups,  made 
splotches  of  dark  color,  hideously  splashed  with  red.  And 
over  the  doomed  village  a  frightful  uproar  rose  and  swelled, 
the  vindictive  shouts  of  thousands,  devoting  to  destruction  a 
few  hundred  brave  men,  resolute  to  die. 

Then  Delaherche,  who  all  this  time  had  been  frantically 
shouting  to  Weiss  without  intermission,  addressed  him  one 
last  appeal  : 

"  You  won't  come  ?  Very  well !  then  I  shall  leave  you  to 
your  fate.  Adieu  !  " 

It  was  seven  o'clock,  and  he  had  delayed  his  departure  too 
long.  So  long  as  the  nouses  were  there  to  afford  him  shelter 
he  took  advantage  of  every  doorway,  of  every  bit  of  projecting 
wall,  shrinking  at  every  volley  into  cavities  that  were  ridicu- 
lously small  in  comparison  with  his  bulk.  He  turned  and 
twisted  in  and  out  with  the  sinuous  dexterity  of  the  serpent ; 
he  would  never  have  supposed  that  there  was  so  much  of  his 
youthful  agility  left  in  him.  When  he  reached  the  end  of  the 
village,  however,  and  had  to  make  his  way  for  a  space  of  some 
three  hundred  yards  along  the  deserted,  empty  road,  swept  by 
the  batteries  on  Liry  hill,  although  the  perspiration  was  stream- 
ing from  his  face  and  body,  he  shivered  and  his  teeth  chat- 
tered. For  a  minute  or  so  he  advanced  cautiously  along  the 
bed  of  a  dry  ditch,  bent  almost  double,  then,  suddenly  forsak- 
ing the  protecting  shelter,  burst  into  the  open  and  ran  for  it 
with  might  and  main,  wildly,  aimlessly,  his  ears  ringing  with 
detonations  that  sounded  to  him  like  thunder-claps.  His  eyes 
burned  like  coals  of  fire;  it  seemed  to  him  that  he  was  wrapt  in 
flame.  It  was  an  eternity  of  torture.  Then  he  suddenly 
caught  sight  of  a  little  house  to  his  left,  and  he  rushed  for  the 
friendly  refuge,  gained  it,  with  a  sensation  as  if  an  immense 
load  had  been  lifted  from  his  breast.  The  place  was  tenanted, 
there  were  men  and  horses  there.  At  first  he  could  distin- 
guish nothing.  What  he  beheld  subsequently  filled  him  with 
amazement. 


THE  DOWNFALL  195 

Was  not  that  the  Emperor,  attended  by  his  brilliant  staff  ? 
He  hesitated,  although  for  the  last  two  days  he  had  been 
boasting  of  his  acquaintance  with  him,  then  stood  staring, 
open-mouthed.  It  was  indeed  Napoleon  III.;  he  appeared 
larger,  somehow,  and  more  imposing  on  horseback^  and  his 
mustache  was  so  stiffly  waxed,  there  was  such  a  brilliant  color 
on  his  cheeks,  that  Delaherche  saw  at  once  he  had  been  "  made 
up  "  and  painted  like  an  actor.  He  had  had  recourse  to  cos- 
metics to  conceal  from  his  army  the  ravages  that  anxiety  and 
illness  had  wrought  in  his  countenance,  the  ghastly  pallor  of 
his  face,  his  pinched  nose,  his  dull,  sunken  eyes,  and  having 
been  notified  at  five  o'clock  that  there  was  fighting  at  Bazeilles, 
had  come  forth  to  see,  sadly  and  silently,  like  a  phantom  with 
rouged  cheeks. 

There  was  a  brick-kiln  near  by,  behind  which  there  was 
safety  from  the  rain  of  bullets  that  kept  pattering  incessantly 
on  its  other  front  and  the  shells  that  burst  at  every  second  on 
the  road.  The  mounted  group  had  halted. 

"  Sire,"  someone  murmured,  "  you  are  in  danger " 

But  the  Emperor  turned  and  motioned  to  his  staff  to  take 
refuge  in  the  narrow  road  that  skirted  the  kiln,  where  men 
and  horses  would  be  sheltered  from  the  fire. 

"  Really,  Sire,  this  is  madness.     Sire,  we  entreat  you " 

His  only  answer  was  to  repeat  his  gesture  ;  probably  he 
thought  that  the  appearance  of  a  group  of  brilliant  uniforms 
on  that  deserted  road  would  draw  the  fire  of  the  batteries  on 
the  left  bank.  Entirely  unattended  he  rode  forward  into  the 
midst  of  the  storm  of  shot  and  shell,  calmly,  unhurriedly,  with 
his  unvarying  air  of  resigned  indifference,  the  air  of  one  who 
goes  to  meet  his  appointed  fate.  Could  it  be  that  he  heard 
behind  him  the  implacable  voice  that  was  urging  him  onward, 
that  voice  from  Paris  :  "  March  !  march  !  die  the  hero's  death 
on  the  piled  corpses  of  thy  countrymen,  let  the  whole  world 
look  on  in  awe-struck  admiration,  so  that  thy  son  may  reign  !  " — 
could  that  be  what  he  heard  ?  He  rode  forward,  controlling 
his  charger  to  a  slow  walk.  For  the  space  of  a  hundred  yards 
he  thus  rode  forward,  then  halted,  awaiting  the  death  he  had 
come  there  to  seek.  The  bullets  sang  in  concert  with  a  music 
like  the  fierce  autumnal  blast ;  a  shell  burst  in  front  of  him 
and  covered  him  with  earth.  He  maintained  his  attitude  of 
patient  waiting.  His  steed,  with  distended  eyes  and  quiver- 
ing frame,  instinctively  recoiled  before  the  grim  presence  who 
was  so  close  at  hand  and  yet  refused  to  smite  horse  or  rider. 


196  THE  DOWNFALL 

At  last  the  trying  experience  came  to  an  end,  and  the  Em- 
peror, with  his  stoic  fatalism,  understanding  that  his  time 
was  not  yet  come,  tranquilly  retraced  his  steps,  as  if  his  only 
object  had  been  to  reconnoiter  the  position  of  the  German 
batteries. 

"  What  courage,  Sire !  We  beseech  you,  do  not  expose 
yourself  further " 

But,  unmindful  of  their  solicitations,  he  beckoned  to  his  staff 
to  follow  him,  not  offering  at  present  to  consult  their  safety 
more  than  he  did  his  own,  and  turned  his  horse's  head  toward 
la  Moncelle,  quitting  the  road  and  taking  the  abandoned  fields 
of  la  Ripaille.  A  captain  was  mortally  wounded,  two  horses 
were  killed.  As  he  passed  along  the  line  of  the  i2th  corps, 
appearing  and  vanishing  like  a  specter,  the  men  eyed  him  with 
curiosity,  but  did  not  cheer. 

To  all  these  events  had  Delaherche  been  witness,  and  now 
he  trembled  at  the  thought  that  he,  too,  as  soon  as  he  should 
have  left  the  brick  works,  would  have  to  run  the  gauntlet  of 
those  terrible  projectiles.  He  lingered,  listening  to  the  con- 
versation of  some  dismounted  officers  who  had  remained  there. 

"  I  tell  you  he  was  killed  on  the  spot ;  cut  in  two  by  a  shell." 

"  You  are  wrong,  I  saw  him  carried  off  the  field.  His 
wound  was  not  severe  ;  a  splinter  struck  him  on  the  hip." 

"  What  time  was  it  ?  " 

"  Why,  about  an  hour  ago — say  half-past  six.  It  was  up 
there  around  la  Moncelle,  in  a  sunken  road." 

"  I  know  he  is  dead." 

"  But  I  tell  you  he  is  not !  He  even  sat  his  horse  for  a 
moment  after  he  was  hit,  then  he  fainted  and  they  carried  him 
into  a  cottage  to  attend  to  his  wound." 

"  And  then  returned  to  Sedan  ?  " 

"  Certainly  ;  he  is  in  Sedan  now." 

Of  whom  corld  they  be  speaking?  Delaherche  quickly 
learned  that  it  was  of  Marshal  MacMahon,  who  had  been 
wounded  while  paying  a  visit  of  inspection  to  his  advanced 
posts.  The  marshal  wounded  !  it  was  "just  our  luck,"  as  the 
lieutenant  of  marines  had  put  it.  He  was  reflecting  on  what 
the  consequences  of  the  mishap  were  likely  to  be  when  an 
estafette  dashed  by  at  top  speed,  shouting  to  a  comrade,  whom 
he  recognized  : 

"  General  Ducrot  is  made  commander-in-chief  !  The  army 
is  ordered  to  concentrate  at  Illy  in  order  to  retreat  on  Me- 
zieres !  " 


THE  DOWNFALL  197 

The  courier  was  already  far  away,  galloping  into  Bazeilles 
under  the  constantly  increasing  fire,  when  Delaherche,  startled 
by  the  strange  tidings  that  came  to  him  in  such  quick  succes- 
sion and  not  relishing  the  prospect  of  being  involved  in  the 
confusion  of  the  retreating  troops,  plucked  up  courage  and 
started  on  a  run  for  Balan,  whence  he  regained  Sedan  without 
much  difficulty. 

The  estafette  tore  through  Bazeilles  on  a  gallop,  dissemi- 
nating the  news,  hunting  up  the  commanders  to  give  them 
their  instructions,  and  as  he  sped  swiftly  on  the  intelligence 
spread  among  the  troops  :  Marshal  MacMahon  wounded, 
General  Ducrot  in  command,  the  army  falling  back  on  Illy! 

"What  is  that  they  are  saying?"  cried  Weiss,  whose  face 
by  this  time  was  grimy  with  powder.  "  Retreat  on  Mezieres 
at  this  late  hour  !  but  it  is  absurd,  they  will  never  get 
through  !  " 

And  his  conscience  pricked  him,  he  repented  bitterly  having 
given  that  counsel  the  day  before  to  that  very  general  who 
was  now  invested  with  the  supreme  command.  Yes,  certainly, 
that  was  yesterday  the  best,  the  only  plan,  to  retreat,  without 
loss  of  a  minute's  time,  by  the  Saint-Albert  pass,  but  now  the 
way  could  be  no  longer  open  to  them,  the  black  swarms  of 
Prussians  had  certainly  anticipated  them  and  were  on  the  plain 
of  Donchery.  There  were  two  courses  left  for  them  to  pursue, 
both  desperate  ;  and  the  most  promising,  as  well  as  the  bravest, 
of  them  was  to  drive  the  Bavarians  into  the  Meuse,  and  cut 
their  way  through  and  regain  possession  of  the  Carignan  road. 

Weiss,  whose  spectacles  were  constantly  slipping  down  upon 
his  nose,  adjusted  them  nervously  and  proceeded  to  explain 
matters  to  the  lieutenant,  who  was  still  seated  against  the  wall 
with  his  two  stumps  of  legs,  very  pale  and  slowly  bleeding  to 
death. 

"  Lieutenant,  I  assure  you  I  am  right.  Tell  your  men  to 
stand  their  ground.  You  can  see  for  yourself  that  we  are 
doing  well.  One  more  effort  like  the  last,  and  we  shall  drive 
them  into  the  river." 

It  was  true  that  the  Bavarians'  second  attack  had  been  re- 
pulsed. The  mitrailleuses  had  again  swept  the  Place  de 
1'Eglise,  the  heaps  of  corpses  in  the  square  resembled  barri- 
cades, and  our  troops,  emerging  from  every  cross  street,  had 
driven  the  enemy  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet  through  the 
meadows  toward  the  river  in  headlong  flight,  which  might  easily 
have  been  converted  into  a  general  rout  had  there  been  fresh 


198  THE  DOWNFALL 

troops  to  support  the  ssilor-boys,  who  had  suffered  severely 
and  were  by  this  time  much  distressed.  And  in  Montiviliiers 
Park,  again,  the  firing  did  not  seem  to  advance,  which  was  a 
sign'that  in  that  quarter,  also,  reinforcements,  could  they  have 
been  had,  would  have  cleared  the  wood. 

"  Order  your  men  to  charge  them  with  the  bayonet,  lieu- 
tenant." 

The  waxen  pallor  of  death  was  on  the  poor  boy-officer's  face; 
yet  he  had  strength  to  murmur  in  feeble  accents  : 

"  You  hear,  my  children  ;  give  them  the  bayonet  !  " 

It  was  his  last  utterance  ;  his  spirit  passed,  his  ingenuous, 
resolute  face  and  his  wide  open  eyes  still  turned  on  the  battle. 
The  flies  already  were  beginning  to  buzz  about  Frangoise's 
head  and  settle  there,  while  lying  on  his  bed  little  Charles,  in  an 
access  of  delirium,  was  calling  on  his  mother  in  pitful,  beseech- 
ing tones  to  give  him  something  to  quench  his  thirst. 

"  Mother,  mother,  awake ;  get  up — I  am  thirsty,  I  am  so 
thirsty." 

But  the  instructions  of  the  new  chief  were  imperative,  and 
the  officers,  vexed  and  grieved  to  see  the  successes  they  had 
achieved  thus  rendered  nugatory,  had  nothing  for  it  but  to  give 
orders  for  the  retreat.  It  was  plain  that  the  commander-in-chief, 
possessed  by  a  haunting  dread  of  the  enemy's  turning  move- 
ment, was  determined  to  sacrifice  everything  in  order  to  escape 
from  the  toils.  The  Place  de  1'Eglise  was  evacuated,  the 
troops  fell  back  from  street  to  street ;  soon  the  broad  avenue 
was  emptied  of  its  defenders.  Women  shrieked  and  sobbed, 
men  swore  and  shook  their  fists  at  the  retiring  troops,  furious 
to  see  themselves  abandoned  thus.  Many  shut  themselves  in 
their  houses,  resolved  to  die  in  their  defense. 

"  Well,  /  am  not  going  to  give  up  the  ship  !  "shouted  Weiss, 
beside  himself  with  rage.  "  No  !  I  will  leave  my  skin  here 
first.  Let  them  come  on  !  let  them  come  and  smash  my  furni- 
ture and  drink  my  wine  !  " 

Wrath  filled  his  mind  to  the  exclusion  of  all  else,  a  wild, 
fierce  desire  to  fight,  to  kill,  at  the  thought  that  the  hated 
foreigner  should  enter  his  house,  sit  in  his  chair,  drink  from 
his  glass.  It  wrought  a  change  in  all  his  nature  ;  everything 
that  went  to  make  up  his  daily  life — wife,  business,  the  method- 
ical prudence  of  the  small  bourgeois — seemed  suddenly  to  be- 
come unstable  and  drift  away  from  him.  And  he  shut  him- 
self up  in  his  house  and  barricaded  it,  he  paced  the  empty 


TffM  DOWNFALL  1$9 

apartments  with  the  restless  impatience  of  a  caged  wild  beast, 
going  from  room  to  room  to  make  sure  that  all  the  doors  and 
windows  were  securely  fastened.  He  counted  his  cartridges 
and  found  he  had  forty  left,  then,  as  he  was  about  to  give  a 
final  look  to  the  meadows  to  see  whether  any  attack  was  to  be 
apprehended  from  that  quarter,  the  sight  of  the  hills  on  the  left 
bank  arrested  his  attention  for  a  moment.  The  smoke-wreaths 
indicated  distinctly  the  position  of  the  Prussian  batteries,  and 
at  the  corner  of  a  little  wood  on  la  Marfee,  over  the  powerful 
battery  at  Frenois,  he  again  beheld  the  group  of  uniforms, 
more  numerous  than  before,  and  so  distinct  in  the  bright  sun- 
light that  by  supplementing  his  spectacles  with  his  binocle  he 
could  make  out  the  gold  of  their  epaulettes  and  helmets. 

"  You  dirty  scoundrels,  you  dirty  scoundrels  !  "  he  twice  re< 
peated,  extending  his  clenched  fist  in  impotent  menace. 

Those  who  were  up  there  on  la  Marfee  were  King  William 
and  his  staff.  As  early  as  seven  o'clock  he  had  ridden  up 
from  Vendresse,  where  he  had  had  quarters  for  the  night,  and 
now  was  up  there  on  the  heights,  out  of  reach  of  danger,  while 
at  his  feet  lay  the  valley  of  the  Meuse  and  the  vast  panorama 
of  the  field  of  battle.  Far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  from  north 
to  south,  the  bird's-eye  view  extended,  and  standing  on  the 
summit  of  the  hill,  as  from  his  throne  in  some  colossal  opera 
box,  the  monarch  surveyed  the  scene. 

In  the  central  foreground  of  the  picture,  and  standing  out 
in  bold  relief  against  the  venerable  forests  of  the  Ardennes, 
that  stretched  away  on  either  hand  from  right  to  left,  filling 
the  northern  horizon  like  a  curtain  of  dark  verdure,  was  the 
city  of  Sedan,  with  the  geometrical  lines  and  angles  of  its 
fortifications,  protected  on  the  south  and  west  by  the  flooded 
meadows  and  the  river.  In  Bazeilles  houses  were  already 
burning,  and  the  dark  cloud  of  war  hung  heavy  over  the 
pretty  village.  Turning  his  eyes  eastward  he  might  discover, 
holding  the  line  between  la  Moncelle  and  Givonne,  some 
regiments  of  the  i2th  and  ist  corps,  looking  like  diminutive 
insects  at  that  distance  and  lost  to  sight  at  intervals  in  the 
dip  of  the  narrow  valley  in  which  the  hamlets  lay  concealed  ; 
and  beyond  that  valley  rose  the  further  slope,  an  uninhab- 
ited, uncultivated  heath,  of  which  the  pale  tints  made  the  dark 
green  of  Chevalier's  Wood  look  black  by  contrast.  To  the 
north  the  yth  corps  was  more  distinctly  visible  in  its  position 
on  the  plateau  of  Floing,  a  broad  belt  of  sere,  dun  fields,  that 
sloped  downward  from  the  little  wood  of  la  Garenne  to  the 


200  THE  DOWNFALL 

verdant  border  of  the  stream.  Further  still  were  Floing, 
Saint- Menges,  Fleigneux,  Illy,  small  villages  that  lay  nestled 
in  the  hollows  of  that  billowing  region  where  the  landscape 
was  a  succession  of  hill  and  dale.  And  there,  too,  to  the  left 
was  the  great  bend  of  the  Meuse,  where  the  sluggish  stream, 
shimmering  like  molten  silver  in  the  bright  sunlight,  swept 
lazily  in  a  great  horseshoe  around  the  peninsula  of  Iges  and 
barred  the  road  to  Mezieres,  leaving  between  its  further  bank 
and  the  impassable  forest  but  one  single  gateway,  the  defile 
of  Saint-Albert. 

It  was  in  that  triangular  space  that  the  hundred  thousand 
men  and  five  hundred  guns  of  the  French  army  had  now 
been  crowded  and  brought  to  bay,  and  when  His  Prussian 
Majesty  condescended  to  turn  his  gaze  still  further  to  the 
westward  he  might  perceive  another  plain,  the  plain  of 
Donchery,  a  succession  of  bare  fields  stretching  away  toward 
Briancourt,  Marancourt,  and  Vrigne-aux-Bois,  a  desolate  ex- 
panse of  gray  waste  beneath  the  clear  blue  sky  ;  and  did  he 
turn  him  to  the  east,  he  again  had  before  his  eyes,  facing  the 
lines  in  which  the  French  were  so  closely  hemmed,  a  vast  level 
stretch  of  country  in  which  were  numerous  villages,  first 
Douzy  and  Carignan,  then  more  to  the  north  Rubecourt, 
Pourru-aux-Bois,  Francheval,  Villers-Cernay,  and  last  of  all, 
near  the  frontier,  Chapelle.  All  about  him,  far  as  he  could 
see,  the  land  was  his  ;  he  could  direct  the  movements  of  the 
quarter  of  a  million  of  men  and  the  eight  hundred  guns  that 
constituted  his  army,  could  master  at  a  glance  every  detail  of 
the  operations  of  his  invading  host.  Even  then  the  Xlth 
corps  was  pressing  forward  toward  Saint-Menges,  while  the  Vth 
was  at  Vrigne-aux-Bois,  and  the  Wurtemburg  division  was 
near  Donchery,  awaiting  orders.  This  was  what  he  beheld  to 
the  west,  and  if,  turning  to  the  east,  he  foufid  his  view  ob- 
structed in  that  quarter  by  tree-clad  hills,  he  could  picture  to 
himself  what  was  passing,  for  he  had  seen  the  Xllth  corps 
entering  the  wood  of  Chevalier,  he  knew  that  by  that  time  the 
Guards  were  at  Villers-Cernay.  There  were  the  two  arms  of 
the  gigantic  vise,  the  army  of  the  Crown  Prince  of  Prussia  on 
the  left,  the  Saxon  Prince's  army  on  the  right,  slowly,  irresist- 
ibly closing  on  each  other,  while  the  two  Bavarian  corps  were 
hammering  away  at  Bazeilles. 

Underneath  the  King's  position  the  long  line  of  bat- 
teries, stretching  with  hardly  an  interval  from  Remilly  to 
Fr£nois,  kept  up  an  unintermittent  fire,  pouring  their  shells 


THE  DOWNFALL  201 

into  Daigny  and  la  Moncelle,  sending  them  hurtling  over 
Sedan  city  to  sweep  the  northern  plateaus.  It  was  barely 
eight  o'clock,  and  with  eyes  fixed  on  the  gigantic  board  he 
directed  the  movements  of  the  game,  awaiting  the  inevita- 
able  end,  calmly  controlling  the  black  cloud  of  men  that  be- 
neath him  swept,  an  array  of  pigmies,  athwart  the  smiling 
landscape. 


II. 

IN  the  dense  fog  up  on  the  plateau  of  Floing  Gaude,  the 
bugler,  sounded  reveille  at  peep  of  day  with  all  the  lung, 
power  he  was  possessed  of,  but  the  inspiring  strain  died  away 
and  was  lost  in  the  damp,  heavy  air,  and  the  men,  who  had 
not  had  courage  even  to  erect  their  tents  and  had  thrown 
themselves,  wrapped  in  their  blankets,  upon  the  muddy  ground, 
did  not  awake  or  stir,  but  lay  like  corpses,  their  ashen  features 
set  and  rigid  in  the  slumber  of  utter  exhaustion.  To  arouse 
them  from  their  trance-like  sleep  they  had  to  be  shaken,  one 
by  one,  and,  with  ghastly  faces  and  haggard  eyes,  they  rose 
to  their  feet,  like  beings  summoned,  against  their  will,  back 
from  another  world.  It  was  Jean  who  awoke  Maurice. 

"  What  is  it  ?  Where  are  we  !  "  asked  the  younger  man. 
He  looked  affrightedly  around  him,  and  beheld  only  that  gray 
waste,  in  which  were  floating  the  unsubstantial  forms' of  his 
comrades.  Objects  twenty  yards  away  were  undistinguish- 
able  ;  his  knowledge  of  the  country  availed  him  not  ;  he  could 
not  even  have  indicated  in  which  direction  lay  Sedan.  Just 
then,  however,  the  boom  of  cannon,  somewhere  in  the  distance, 
fell  upon  his  ear.  ^  Ah  !  I  remember  ;  the  battle  is  for  to- 
day ;  they  are  fignting.  So  much  the  better  ;  there  will  be  an 
end  to  our  suspense  !  " 

He  heard  other  voices  around  him  expressing  the  same  idea. 
There  was  a  feeling  of  stern  satisfaction  that  at  last  their  long 
nightmare  was  to  be  dispelled,  that  at  last  they  were  to  have 
a  sight  of  those  Prussians  whom  they  had  come  out  to  look 
for,  and  before  whom  they  had  been  retreating  so  many  weary 
days  ;  that  they  were  to  be  given  a  chance  to  try  a  shot  at 
them,  and  lighten  the  load  of  cartridges  that  had  been  tugging 
at  their  belts  so  long,  with  never  an  opportunity  to  burn  a 
single  one  of  them.  Everyone  felt  that,  this  time,  the  battle 
would  not,  could  not  be  avoided. 


202  THE  DOIVNFALL 

But  the  guns  began  to  thunder  more  loudly  down  at  Bazeilles, 
and  Jean  bent  his  ear  to  listen. 

"  Where  is  the  firing?  " 

"  Faith,"  replied  Maurice,  "  it  seems  to  me  to  be  over  to- 
ward the  Meuse  ;  but  I'll  be  hanged  if  I  know  where  we  are." 

"  Look  here,  youngster,"  said  the  corporal,  "  you  are  going 
to  stick  close  by  me  to-day,  for  unless  a  man  has  his  wits  about 
him,  don't  you  see,  he  is  likely  to  get  in  trouble.  Now,  I 
have  been  there  before,  and  can  keep  an  eye  out  for  both  of 
us." 

The  others  of  the  squad,  meantime,  were  growling  angrily 
because  they  had  nothing  with  which  to  warm  their  stomachs. 
There  was  no  possibility  of  kindling  fires  without  dry  wood  in 
such  weather  as  prevailed  then,  and  so,  at  the  very  moment 
when  they  were  about  to  go  into  battle,  the  inner  man  put  in 
his  claim  for  recognition,  and  would  not  be  denied.  Hunger 
is  not  conducive  to  heroism  ;  to  those  poor  fellows  eating  was 
the  great,  the  momentous  question  of  life  ;  how  lovingly  they 
watched  the  boiling  pot  on  those  red-letter  days  when  the  soup 
was  rich  and  thick  ;  how  like  children  or  savages  they  were 
in  their  wrath  when  rations  were  not  forthcoming  ! 

"  No  eat,  no  fight !  "  declared  Chouteau.  "  I'll  be  blowed 
if  I  am  going  to  risk  my  skin  to-day  !  " 

The  radical  was  cropping  out  again  in  the  great  hulking 
house- painter,  the  orator  of  Belleville,  the  pothouse  politician, 
who  drowned  what  few  correct  ideas  he  picked  up  here  and 
there  in  a  nauseous  mixture  of  ineffable  folly  and  falsehood. 

"  Besides,"  he  went  on,  "  what  good  was  there  in  making 
fools  of  us  as  they  have  been  doing  all  along,  telling  us  that 
the  Prussians  were  dying  of  hunger  and  disease,  that  they  had 
not  so  much  as  a  shirt  to  their  back,  and  were  tramping  along 
the  highways  like  ragged,  filthy  paupers!" 

Loubet  laughed  the  laugh  of  the  Parisian  gamin,  who  has 
experienced  the  various  vicissitudes  of  life  in  the  Halles. 

"  Oh,  that's  all  in  my  eye  !  it  is  we  fellows  who  have  been 
catching  it  right  along  ;  we  are  the  poor  devils  whose  leaky 
brogans  and  tattered  toggery  would  make  folks  throw  us  a 
copper.  And  then  those  great  victories  about  which  they 
made  such  a  fuss  !  What  precious  liars  they  must  be,  to  tell 
us  that  old  Bismarck  had  been  made  prisoner  and  that  a  Ger- 
man army  had  been  driven  over  a  quarry  and  dashed  to 
pieces  !  Oh  yes,  they  fooled  us  in  great  shape." 

Pache  and  Lapoulle,  who  were  standing  near,  shook  their 


Ttf£  DOWNFALL  20^ 

heads  and  clenched  their  fists  ominously.  There  were  others, 
also,  who  made  no  attempt  to  conceal  their  anger,  for  the 
course  of  the  newspapers  in  constantly  printing  bogus  news 
had  had  most  disastrous  results  ;  all  confidence  was  destroyed, 
men  had  ceased  to  believe  anything  or  anybody.  And  so  it 
was  that  in  the  soldiers,  children  of  a  larger  growth,  their 
bright  dreams  of  other  days  had  now  been  supplanted  by  ex- 
aggerated anticipations  of  misfortune. 

"  Pardi!  "  continued  Chouteau,  "  the  thing  is  accounted  for 
easily  enough,  since  our  rulers  have  been  selling  us  to  the 
enemy  right  from  the  beginning.  You  all  know  that  it  is  so." 

Lapoulle's  rustic  simplicity  revolted  at  the  idea. 

"  For  shame  !  what  wicked  people  they  must  be  !  " 

"Yes,  sold,  as  Judas  sold  his  master,"  murmured  Pache, 
mindful  of  his  studies  in  sacred  history. 

It  was  Chouteau's  hour  of  triumph.  "  Man  Dieu  !  it  is  as 
plain  as  the  nose  on  your  face.  MacMahon  got  three  millions 
and  each  of  the  other  generals  got  a  million,  as  the  price  of 
bringing  us  up  here.  The  bargain  was  made  at  Paris  last 
spring,  and  last  night  they  sent  up  a  rocket  as  a  signal  to  let 
Bismarck  know  that  everything  was  fixed  and  he  might  come 
and  take  us." 

The  story  .was  so  inanely  stupid  that  Maurice  was  disgusted. 
There  had  been  a  time  when  Chouteau,  thanks  to  his  facun- 
dity  of  the  faubourg,  had  interested  and  almost  convinced 
him,  but  now  he  had  come  to  detest  that  apostle  of  falsehood, 
that  snake  in  the  grass,  who  calumniated  honest  effort  of  every 
kind  in  order  to  sicken  others  of  it. 

"Why  do  you  talk  such  nonsense  ?  "  he  exclaimed.  "  You 
know  very  well  there  is  no  truth  in  it." 

"What,  not  true  ?  Do  you  mean  to  say  it  is  not  true  that 
we  are  betrayed  ?  Ah,  come,  my  aristocratic  friend,  perhaps 

you  are  one  of  them,  perhaps  you  belong  to  the  d d  band 

of  dirty  traitors  ?  "  He  came  forward  threateningly.  "  If  you 
are  you  have  only  to  say  so,  my  fine  gentleman,  for  we  will 
attend  to  your  case  right  here,  and  won't  wait  for  your  friend 
Bismarck,  either." 

The  others  were  also  beginning  to  growl  and  show  their 
teeth,  and  Jean  thought  it  time  that  he  should  interfere. 

"  Silence  there  !  I  will  report  the  first  man  who  says  another 
word  !  " 

But  Chouteau  sneered  and  jeered  at  him  ;  what  did  he  care 
whether  he  reported  him  or  not !  He  was  not  going  to  fight 


264  TffE  DOWNFALL 

unless  he  chose,  and  they  need  not  try  to  ride  him  rough-shod, 
because  he  had  cartridges  in  his  box  for  other  people  beside 
the  Prussians.  They  were  going  into  action  now,  and  what 
discipline  had  been  maintained  by  fear  would  be  at  an  end  : 
what  could  they  do  to  him,  anyway  ?  he  would  just  skip  as 
soon  as  he  thought  he  had  enough  of  it.  And  he  was  profane 
and  obscene,  egging  the  men  on  against  the  corporal,  who  had 
been  allowing  them  to  starve.  Yes,  it  was  his  fault  that  the 
squad  had  had  nothing  to  eat  in  the  last  three  days,  while  their 
neighbors  had  soup  and  fresh  meat  in  plenty,  but  "  monsieur  " 
had  to  go  off  to  town  with  the  "  aristo  "  and  enjoy  himself  with 
the  girls.  People  had  spotted  'em,  over  in  Sedan. 

"  You  stole  the  money  belonging  to  the  squad  ;  deny  it  if 
you  dare,  you  bougre  of  a  belly-god  !  " 

Things  were  beginning  to  assume  an  ugly  complexion  ; 
Lapoulle  was  doubling  his  big  fists  in  a  way  that  looked  like 
business,  and  Pache,  with  the  pangs  of  hunger  gnawing  at  his 
vitals,  laid  aside  his  natural  douoeness  and  insisted  on  an  ex- 
planation. The  only  reasonable  one  among  them  was  Loubet, 
who  gave  one  of  his  pawky  laughs  and  suggested  that,  being 
Frenchmen,  they  might  as  well  dine  off  the  Prussians  as  eat 
one  another.  For  his  part,  he  took  no  stock  in  fighting, 
either  with  fists  or  firearms,  and  alluding  to  the  few  hundred 
francs  that  he  had  earned  as  substitute,  added  : 

"  And  so,  that  was  all  they  thought  my  hide  was  worth  ! 
Well,  I  am  not  going  to  give  them  more  than  their  money's 
worth." 

Maurice  and  Jean  were  in  a  towering  rage  at  the  idotic  on- 
slaught, talking  loudly  and  repelling  Chouteau's  insinuations, 
when  out  from  the  fog  came  a  stentorian  voice,  bellowing  : 

"  What's  this  ?  what's  this  ?  Show  me  the  rascals  who 
dare  quarrel  in  the  company  street !  " 

And  Lieutenant  Rochas  appeared  upon  the  scene,  in  his  old 
k/pij  whence  the  rain  had  washed  all  the  color,  and  his  great 
coat,  minus  many  of  its  buttons,  evincing  in  all  his  lean, 
shambling  person  the  extreme  of  poverty  and  distress.  Not- 
withstanding his  forlorn  aspect,  however,  his  sparkling  eye 
and  bristling  mustache  showed  that  his  old  time  confidence 
had  suffered  no  impairment. 

Jean  spoke  up,  scarce  able  to  restrain  himself  .  "  Lieutenant, 
it  is  these  men,  who  persist  in  saying  that  we  are  betrayed. 
Yes,  they  dare  to  assert  that  our  generals  have  sold  us " 

The  idea  of  treason  did  not  appear  so  extremely  unnatural 


THE  DOWNFALL  26$ 

to  Rochas's  thick  understanding,  for  it  served  to  explain  those 
reverses  that  he  could  not  account  for  otherwise. 

"  Well,  suppose  they  are  sold,  is  it  any  of  their  business  ? 
What  concern  is  it  of  theirs  ?  The  Prussians  are  there  all  the 
same,  aren't  they  ?  and  we  are  going  to  give  them  one  of  the 
old-fashioned  hidings,  such  as  they  won't  forget  in  one  while." 
Down  below  them  in  the  thick  sea  of  fog  the  guns  at  Bazeilles 
were  still  pounding  away,  and  he  extended  his  arms  with  a 
broad,  sweeping  gesture  :  "Hein  !  this  is  the  time  that  we've 
got  them  !  We'll  see  them  back  home,  and  kick  them  every 
step  of  the  way  !  " 

All  the  trials  and  troubles  of  the  past  were  to  him  as  if  they 
had  not  been,  now  that  his  ears  were  gladdened  by  the  roar  of 
the  guns  :  the  delays  and  conflicting  orders  of  the  chiefs,  the 
demoralization  of  the  troops,  the  stampede  at  Beaumont,  the 
distress  of  the  recent  forced  retreat  on  Sedan — all  were  for- 
gotten. Now  that  they  were  about  to  fight  at  last,  was  not 
victory  certain  ?  He  had  learned  nothing  and  forgotten  noth-./ 
ing  ;  his  blustering,  boastful  contempt  of  the  enemy,  his  entire 
ignorance  of  the  new  arts  and  appliances  of  war,  his  rooted 
conviction  that  an  old  soldier  of  Africa,  Italy,  and  the  Crimea 
could  by  no  possibility  be  beaten,  had  suffered  no  change.  It 
was  really  a  little  too  comical  that  a  man  at  his  age  should  take 
the  back  track  and  begin  at  the  beginning  again  ! 

All  at  once  his  lantern  jaws  parted  and  gave  utterance  to  a 
loud  laugh.  He  was  visited  by  one  of  those  impulses  of  good- 
fellowship  that  made  his  men  swear  by  him,  despite  the  rough- 
ness of  the  jobations  that  he  frequently  bestowed  on  them. 

"  Look  here,  my  children,  in  place  of  quarreling  it  will  be  a 
great  deal  better  to  take  a  good  nip  all  around.  Come,  I'm 
going  to  treat,  and  you  shall  drink  my  health." 

From  the  capacious  pocket  of  his  capote  he  extracted  a 
bottle  of  brandy,  adding,  with  his  all-conquering  air,  that  it 
was  the  gift  of  a  lady.  (He  had  been  seen  the  day  before, 
seated  at  the  table  of  a  tavern  in  Floing  and  holding  the 
waitress  on  his  lap,  evidently  on  the  best  of  terms  with  her.) 
The  soldiers  laughed  and  winked  at  one  another,  holding  out 
their  porringers,  into  which  he  gayly  poured  the  golden  liquor 

"  Drink  to  your  sweethearts,  my  children,  if  you   have  anj 
and  don't  forget  to  drink  to  the  glory  of  France.     Them's  my 
sentiments,  so  vive  lajoie  /  " 

"That's  right,  Lieutenant.  Here's  to  your  health,  and 
everybody  else's  !  " 


2o6  THE  DOWNFALL 

They  all  drank,  and  their  hearts  were  warmed  and  peace 
reigned  once  more.  The  "  nip  "  had  much  of  comfort  in  it, 
in  the  chill  morning,  just  as  they  were  going  into  action,  and 
Maurice  felt  it  tingling  in  his  veins,  giving  him  cheer  and  a 
sort  of  what  is  known  colloquially  as  "  Dutch  courage."  Why 
should  they  not  whip  the  Prussians  ?  Have  not  battles  their 
surprises?  has  not  history  embalmed  many  an  instance  of  the 
fickleness  of  fortune  ?  That  mighty  man  of  war,  the  lieu- 
tenant, added  that  Bazaine  was  on  the  way  to  join  them, 
would  be  with  them  before  the  day  was  over  :  oh,  the  in- 
formation was  positive ;  he  had  it  from  an  aid  to  one  of  the 
generals  ;  and  although,  in  speaking  of  the  route  the  marshal 
was  to  come  by,  he  pointed  to  the  frontier  of  Belgium,  Maurice 
yielded  to  one  of  those  spasmodic  attacks  of  hopefulness  of 
his,  without  which  life  to  him  would  not  have  been  worth  liv- 
ing. Might  it  not  be  that  the  day  of  reckoning  was  at  hand  ? 

"  Why  don't  we  move,  Lieutenant  ?  "  he  made  bold  to  ask. 
"  What  are  we  waiting  for  ? " 

Rochas  made  a  gesture,  which  the  other  interpreted  to 
mean  that  no  orders  had  been  received.  Presently  he  asked  : 

"  Has  anybody  seen  the  captain  ? " 

No  one  answered.  Jean  remembered  perfectly  having  seen 
him  making  for  Sedan  the  night  before,  but  to  the  soldier  who 
knows  what  is  good  for  himself,  his  officers  are  always  invisi- 
ble when  they  are  not  on  duty.  He  held  his  tongue,  there- 
fore, until  happening  to  turn  his  head,  he  caught  sight  of  a 
shadowy  form  flitting  along  the  hedge. 

"  Here  he  is,"  said  he. 

It  was  Captain  Beaudoin  in  the  flesh.  They  were  all  sur- 
prised by  the  nattiness  of  his  appearance,  his  resplendent 
shoes,  his  well-brushed  uniform,  affording  such  a  striking  con- 
trast to  the  .lieutenant's  pitiful  state.  And  there  was  a  finick- 
ing completeness,  moreover,  about  his  toilet,  greater  than  the 
male  being  is  accustomed  to  bestow  upon  himself,  in  his  scru- 
pulously white  hands  and  his  carefully  curled  mustache,  and  a 
faint  perfume  of  Persian  lilac,  which  had  the  effect  of  remind- 
ing one  in  some  mysterious  way  of  the  dressing  room  of  a 
young  and  pretty  woman. 

"  Hallo  !  "  said  Loubet,  with  a  sneer,  "  the  captain  has  re- 
covered his  "baggage  !  " 

But  no  one  laughed,  for  they  all  knew  him  to  be  a  man  with 
whom  it  was  not  well  to  joke.  He  was  stiff  and  consequential 
lith  his  men,  and  was  detested  accordingly  ;  &p$te  sec;  to  use 


THE  DOWNFALL  207 

Rochas's  expression.  He  had  seemed  to  regard  the  early  re- 
verses of  the  campaign  as  personal  affronts,  and  the  disaster 
that  all  had  prognosticated  was  to  him  an  unpardonable  crime. 
He  was  a  strong  Bonapartist  by. conviction  ;  his  prospects  for 
promotion  were  of  the  brightest ;  he  had  several  important 
salons  looking  after  his  interests  ;  naturally,  he  .did  not  take 
kindly  to  the  changed  condition  of  affairs  that  promised  to 
make  his  cake  dough.  He  was  said  to  have  a  remarkably  fine 
tenor  voice,  which  had  helped  him  no  little  in  his  advance- 
ment. He  was  not  devoid  of  intelligence,  though  perfectly 
ignorant  as  regarded  everything  connected  with  his  profession  ; 
eager  to  please,  and  very  brave,  when  there  was  occasion  for 
being  so,  without  superfluous  rashness. 

"  What  a  nasty  fog  !  "  was  all  he  said,  pleased  to  have  found 
his  company  at  last,  for  which  he  had  been  searching  for  more 
than  half  an  hour. 

At  the  same  time  their  orders  came,  and  the  battalion  moved 
forward.  They  had  to  proceed  with  caution,  feeling  their  way, 
for  the  exhalations  continued  to  rise  from  the  stream  and 
were  now  so  dense  that  they  were  precipitated  in  a  fine,  driz- 
zling rain.  A  vision  rose  before  Maurice's  eyes  that  impressed 
him  deeply  ;  it  was  Colonel  de  Vineuil,  who  loomed  suddenly 
from  out  the  mist,  sitting  his  horse,  erect  and  motionless,  at 
the  intersection  of  two  roads — the  man  appearing  of  preter- 
natural size,  and  so  pale  and  rigid  that  he  might  have  served  a 
sculptor  as  a  study  for  a  statue  of  despair  ;  the  steed  shivering 
in  the  raw,  chill  air  of  morning,  his  dilated  nostrils  turned  in 
the  direction  of  the  distant  firing.  Some  ten  paces  to  their 
rear  were  the  regimental  colors,  which  the  sous-lieutenant 
whose  duty  -it  was  to  bear  them  had  thus  early  taken  from  their 
case  and  proudly  raised  aloft,  and  as  the  driving,  vaporous 
rack  eddied  and  swirled  about  them,  they  shone  like  a  radiant 
vision  of  glory  emblazoned  on  the  heavens,  soon  "to  fade  and 
vanish  from  the  sight.  Water  was  dripping  from  the  gilded 
eagle,  and  the  tattered,  shot-riddled  tri-color,  on  which  were 
embroidered  the  names  of  former  victories,  was  stained  and  its 
bright  hues  dimmed  by  the  smoke  of  many  a  battle-field  ;  the 
sole  bit  of  brilliant  color  in  all  the  faded  splendor  was  the 
enameled  cross  of  honor  that  was  attached  to  the  cravatc. 

Another  billow  of  vapor  came  scurrying  up  from  the  river, 
enshrouding  in  its  fleecy  depths  colonel,  standard,  and  all, 
and  the  battalion  passed  on,  whitherward  no  one  could  tell. 
First  their  route  had  conducted  them  over  descending  ground, 


208  THE  DOWNFALL 

now  they  were  climbing  a  hill.  On  reaching  the  suriimit  the 
command,  halt !  started  at  the  front  and  ran  do'wn  the  column; 
the  men  were  cautioned  not  to  leave  the-  ranks,  arms  were 
ordered,  and  there  they  remained,  the  heavy  knapsacks  form- 
ing a  grievous  burden  to  weary  shoulders.  It  was  evident 
that  they  were  on  a  plateau,  but  to  discern  localities  was  out 
of  the  question  ;  twenty  paces  was  the  extreme  range  of  vision. 
It  was  now  seven  o'clock ;  the  sound  of  firing  reached  them 
more  distinctly,  other  batteries  were  apparently  opening  on 
Sedan  from  the  opposite  bank. 

"  Oh !  I,"  said  Sergeant  Sapin  with  a  start,  addressing  Jean 
and  Maurice,  "  I  shall  be  killed  to-day." 

It  was  the  first  time  he  had  opened  his  lips  that  morning  ; 
an  expression  of  dreamy  melancholy  had  rested  on  his  thin 
face,  with  its  big,  handsome  eyes  and  thin,  pinched  nose. 

"  What  an  idea  !  "  Jean  exclaimed  ;  "  who  can  tell  what  is 
going  to  happen  him  ?  Every  bullet  has  its  billet,  they  say, 
but  you  stand  no  worse  chance  than  the  rest  of  us." 

"  Oh,  but  me — I  am  as  good  as  dead  now.  1  tell  you  I  shall 
be  killed  to-day." 

The  near  files  turned  and  looked  at  him  curiously,  asking 
him  if  he  had  had  a  dream.  No,  he  had  dreamed  nothing, 
but  he  felt  it ;  it  was  there. 

"  And  it  is  a  pity,  all  the  same,  because  I  was  to  be  married 
when  I  got  my  discharge." 

A  vague  expression  came  into  his  eyes  again  ;  his  past  life 
rose  before  him.  He  was  the  son  of  a  small  retail  grocer  at 
Lyons,  and  had  been  petted  and  spoiled  by  his  mother  up  to 
the  time  of  her  death;  then  rejecting  the  proffer  of  his  father, 
with  whom  he  did  not  hit  it  off  well,  to  assist  in  purchasing 
his  discharge,  he  had  remained  with  the  army,  weary  and  dis- 
gusted with  life  and  with  his  surroundings.  Coming  home  on 
furlough,  however,  he  fell  in  love  with  a  cousin  and  they  be- 
came engaged  ;  their  intention  was  to  open  a  little  shop  on  the 
small  capital  which  she  would  bring  him,  and  then  existence 
once  more  became  desirable.  He  had  received  an  elementary 
education  ;  could  read,  write,  and  cipher.  For  the  past  year 
he  had  lived  only  in  anticipation  of  this  happy  future. 

He  shivered,  and  gave  himself  a  shake  to  dispel  his  revery, 
repeating  with  his  tranquil  air  : 

;'  Yes,  it  is  too  bad  ;  I  shall  be  killed  to-day." 

No  one  spoke  ;  the  uncertainty  and  suspense  continued. 
They  knew  not  whether  the  enemy  was  on  their  front  or  in 


THE  DOWNFALL  209 

their  rear.  Strange  sounds  came  to  their  ears  from  time  to 
time  from  out  the  depths  of  the  mysterious  fog :  the  rumble 
of  wheels,  the  deadened  tramp  of  moving  masses,  the  distant 
clatter  of  horses'  hoofs  ;  it  was  the  evolutions  of  troops,  hidden 
from  view  behind  the  misty  curtain,  the  batteries,  battalions, 
and  squadrons  of  the  yth  corps  taking  up  their  positions  in 
line  of  battle.  Now,  however,  it  began  to  look  as  if  the  fog 
was  about  to  lift  ;  it  parted  here  and  there  and  fragments 
floated  lightly  off,  like  strips  of  gauze  torn  from  a  veil,  and 
bits  of  sky  appeared,  not  transparently  blue,  as  on  a  bright 
summer's  day,  but  opaque  and  of  the  hue  of  burnished  steel, 
like  the  cheerless  bosom  of  some  deep,  sullen  mountain  tarn. 
It  was  in  one  of  those  brighter  moments  when  the  sun  was  en- 
deavoring to  struggle  forth  that  the  regiments  of  chasseurs 
d'Afrique,  constituting  part  of  Margueritte's  division,  came 
riding  by,  giving  the  impression  of  a  band  of  spectral  horse- 
men. They  sat  very  stiff  and  erect  in  the  saddle,  with  their 
short  cavalry  jackets,  broad  red  sashes  and  smart  little  kepis, 
accurate  in  distance  and  alignment  and  managing  admirably 
their  lean,  wiry  mounts,  which  were  almost  invisible  under  the 
heterogeneous  collection  of  tools  and  camp  equipage  that  they 
had  to  carry.  Squadron  after  squadron  they  swept  by  in  long 
array,  to  be  swallowed  in  the  gloom  from  which  they  had  just 
emerged,  vanishing  as  if  dissolved  by  the  fine  rain.  The  truth 
was,  probably,  that  they  were  in  the  way,  and  their  leaders, 
not  knowing  what  use  to  put  them  to,  had  packed  them  off  the 
field,  as  had  often  been  the  case  since  the  opening  of  the  cam- 
paign. They  had  scarcely  ever  been  employed  on  scouting  or 
reconnoitering  duty,  and  as  soon  as  there  was  prospect  of  a 
fight  were  trotted  about  for  shelter  from  valley  to  valley,  use- 
less objects,  but  too  costly  to  be  endangered. 

Maurice  thought  of  Prosper  as  he  watched  them.  "  That 
fellow,  yonder,  looks  like  him,"  he  said,  under  his  breath.  "  I 
wonder  if  it  is  he  ? " 

"  Of  whom  are  you  speaking  ?  "  asked  Jean. 

"  Of  that  young  man  of  Remilly,  whose  brother  we  met  at 
Osches,  you  remember." 

Behind  the  chasseurs,  when  they  had  all  passed,  came  a  gen- 
eral officer  and  his  staff  dashing  down  the  descending  road, 
and  Maurice  recognized  the  general  of  their  brigade,  Bour- 
gain-Desfeuilles,  shouting  and  gesticulating  wildly.  He  had 
torn  himself  reluctantly  from  his  comfortable  quarters  at  the 
hotel  of  the  Golden  Cross,  and  it  was  evident  from  the  horn- 


THE  DOWNFALL 

ble  temper  he  was  in  that  the  condition  of  affairs  that  morning 
was  not  satisfactory  to  him.  In  a  tone  of  voice  so  loud  that 
everyone  could  hear  he  roared  : 

"In  the  devil's  name,  what  stream  is  that  off  yonder,  the 
Meuse  or  the  Moselle  ? " 

The  fog  dispersed  at  last,  this  time  in  earnest.  As  at  Ba- 
zeilles  the  effect  was  theatrical  ;  the  curtain  rolled  slowly  up- 
ward to  the  flies,  disclosing  the  setting  of  the  stage.  From  a 
sky  of  transparent  blue  the  sun  poured  down  a  flood  of  bright 
golden  light,  and  Maurice  was  no  longer  at  a  loss  to  recognize 
their  position. 

"Ah  !  "  he  said  to  Jean,  "we  are  on  the  plateau  de  1'Al- 
gerie.  That  village  that  you  see  across  the  valley,  directly  in 
our  front,  is  Floing,  and  that  more  distant  one  is  Saint-Menges, 
and  that  one,  more  distant  still,  a  little  to  the  right,  is  Fleig- 
neux.  Then  those  scrubby  trees  on  the  horizon,  away  in  the 
background,  are  the  forest  of  the  Ardennes,  and  there  lies  the 
frontier " 

He  went  on  to  explain  their  position,  naming  each  locality 
and  pointing  to  it  with  outstretched  hand.  The  plateau  de 
1' Algeria  was  a  belt  of  reddish  ground,  something  less  than 
two  miles  in  length,  sloping  gently  downward  from  the  wood 
of  la  Garenne  toward  the  Meuse,  from  which  it  was  separated 
by  the  meadows.  On  it  the  line  of  the  yth  corps  had  been 
established  by  General  Douay,  who  felt  that  his  numbers  were 
not  sufficient  to  defend  so  extended  a  position  and  properly 
maintain  his  touch  with  the  ist  corps,  which  was  posted  at 
right  angles  with  his  line,  occupying  the  valley  of  la  Givonne, 
from  the  wood  of  la  Garenne  to  Daigny. 

"  Oh,  isn't  it  grand,  isn't  it  magnificent !  " 

And  Maurice,  revolving  on  his  heel,  made  with  his  hand  a 
sweeping  gesture  that  embraced  the  entire  horizon.  From 
their  position  on  the  plateau  the  whole  wide  field  of  battle  lay 
stretched  before  them  to  the  south  and  west :  Sedan,  almost 
at  their  feet,  whose  citadel  they  could  see  overtopping  the 
roofs,  then  Balan  and  Bazeilles,  dimly  seen  through  the  dun 
smoke-clouds  that  hung  heavily  in  the  motionless  air,  and 
further  in  the  distance  the  hills  of  the  left  bank,  Liry,  la  Mar- 
fee,  la  Croix-Piau.  It  was  away  toward  the  west,  however,  in 
the  direction  of  Donchery,  that  the  prospect  was  most  exten- 
sive. There  the  Meuse  curved  horseshoe-wise,  encircling  the 
peninsula  of  Iges  with  a  ribbon  of  pale  silver,  and  at  the 
northern  extremity  of  the  loop  was  distinctly  visible  the  narrow 


THE  DOWNFALL  211 

road  of  the  Saint-Albert  pass,  winding  between  the  river  bank 
and  a  beetling,  overhanging  hill  that  was  crowned  with  the 
little  wood  of  Seugnon,  an  offshoot  of  the  forest  of  la  Fali- 
zette.  At  the  summit  of  the  hill,  at  the  carrefour  of  la  Maison- 
Rouge,  the  road  from  Donchery  to  Vrigne-aux-Bois  debouched 
into  the  Mezieres  pike. 

"  See,  that  is  the  road  by  which  we  might  retreat  on  Me- 
zieres." 

Even  as  he  spoke  the  first  gun  was  fired  from  Saint-Menges. 
The  fog  still  hung  over  the  bottom-lands  in  shreds  and  patches, 
and  through  it  they  dimly  descried  a  shadowy  body  of  men 
moving  through  the  Saint-Albert  defile. 

"Ah,  they  are  there,"  continued  Maurice,  instinctively  low- 
ering his  voice.  "  Too  late,  too  late  ;  they  have  intercepted 
us  !" 

It  was  not  eight  o'clock.  The  guns,  which  were  thundering 
more  fiercely  than  ever  in  the  direction  of  Bazeilles,  now  also 
began  to  make  themselves  heard  at  the  eastward,  in  the  valley 
of  la  Givonne,  which  was  hid  from  view  ;  it  was  the  army  of 
the  Crown  Prince  of  Saxony,  debouching  from  the  Chevalier 
wood  and  attacking  the  ist  corps,  in  front  of  Daigny  village  ; 
and  now  that  the  Xlth  Prussian  corps,  moving  on  Floing,  had 
opened  fire  on  General  Douay's  troops,  the  investment  was 
complete  at  every  point  of  the  great  periphery  of  several 
leagues'  extent,  and  the  action  was  general  all  along  the  line. 

Maurice  suddenly  perceived  the  enormity  of  their  blunder 
in  not  retreating  on  Mezieres  during  the  night ;  but  as  yet  the 
consequences  were  not  clear  to  him ;  he  could  not  foresee  all 
the  disaster  that  was  to  result  from  that  fatal  error  of  judg- 
ment. Moved  by  some  indefinable  instinct  of  danger,  he 
looked  with  apprehension  on  the  adjacent  heights  that  com- 
manded the  plateau  de  1'Algerie.  If  time  had  not  been  allowed 
them  to  make  good  their  retreat,  why  had  they  not  backed  up 
against  the  frontier  and  occupied  those  heights  of  Illy  and 
Saint-Menges,  whence,  if  they  could  not  maintain  their  posi- 
tion, they  would  at  least  have  been  free  to  cross  over  into 
Belgium  ?  There  were  two  points  that  appeared  to  him 
especially  threatening,  the  mamelon  of  Hattoy,  to  the  north  of 
Floing  on  the  left,  and  the  Calvary  of  Illy,  a  stone  cross  with 
a  linden  tree  on  either  side,  the  highest  bit  of  ground  in  the 
surrounding  country,  to  the  right.  General  Douay  was  keenly 
alive  to  the  importance  of  these  eminences,  and  the  day  before 
had  sent  two  battalions  to  occupy  Hattoy  ;  but  the  men,  feeling 


212  THE  DOWNFALL 

that  they  were  "  in  the  air  "  and  too  remote  from  support,  had 
fallen  back  early  that  morning.  It  was  understood  that  the 
left  wing  of  the  ist  corps  was  to  take  care  of  the  Calvary  of 
Illy.  The  wide  expanse  of  naked  country  between  Sedan  and 
the  Ardennes  forest  was  intersected  by  deep  ravines,  and  the 
key  of  the  position  was  manifestly  there,  in  the  shadow  of  that 
cross  and  the  two  lindens,  whence  their  guns  might  sweep  the 
fields  in  every  direction  for  a  long  distance. 

Two  more  cannon  shots  rang  out,  quickly  succeeded  by  a 
salvo  ;  they  detected  the  bluish  smoke  rising  from  the  under- 
brush of  a  low  hill  to  the  left  of  Saint-Menges. 

"  Our  turn  is  coming  now,"  said  Jean. 

Nothing  more  startling  occurred  just  then,  however.  The 
men,  still  preserving  their  formation  and  standing  at  ordered 
arms,  found  something  to  occupy  their  attention  in  the  fine 
appearance  made  by  the  2d  division,  posted  in  front  of  Floing, 
with  their  left  refused  and  facing  the  Meuse,  so  as  to  guard 
against  a  possible  attack  from  that  quarter.  The  ground  to 
the  east,  as  far  as  the  wood  of  la  Garenne,  beneath  Illy  vil- 
lage, was  held  by  the  3d  division,  while  the  ist,  which  had  lost 
heavily  at  Beaumont,  formed  a  second  line.  All  night  long 
the  engineers  had  been  busy  with  pick  and  shovel,  and  even 
after  the  Prussians  had  opened  fire  they  were  still  digging 
away  at  their  shelter  trenches  and  throwing  up  epaulments. 

Then  a  sharp  rattle  of  musketry,  quickly  silenced,  however, 
was  heard  proceeding  from  a  point  beneath  Floing,  and  Cap- 
tain Beaudoin  received  orders  to  move  his  company  three 
hundred  yards  to  the  rear.  Their  new  position  was  in  a  great 
field  of  cabbages,  upon  reaching  which  the  captain  made  his 
men  lie  down.  The  sun  had  not  yet  drunk  up  the  moisture 
that  had  descended  on  the  vegetables  in  the  darkness,  and 
every  fold  and  crease  of  the  thick,  golden-green  leaves  was 
filled  with  trembling  drops,  as  pellucid  and  luminous  as  bril- 
liants of  the  fairest  water. 

"  Sight  for  four  hundred  yards,"  the  captain  ordered. 

Maurice  rested  the  barrel  of  his  musket  on  a  cabbage  that 
reared  its  head  conveniently  before  him,  but  it  was  impossible 
to  see  anything  in  his  recumbent  position  :  only  the  blurred  sur- 
face of  the  fields  traversed  by  his  level  glance,  diversified  by 
an  occasional  tree  or  shrub.  Giving  Jean,  who  was  beside 
him,  a  nudge  with  his  elbow,  he  asked  what  they  were  to  do 
there.  The  corporal,  whose  experience  in  such  matters  was 
greater,  pointed  to  an  elevation  not  far  away,  where  a  battery 


THE  DOWNFALL  213 

was  just  taking  its  position  ;  it  was  evident  that  they  had  been 
placed  there  to  support  that  battery,  should  there  be  need  of 
their  services.  Maurice,  wondering  whether  Honore  and  his 
guns  were  not  of  the  party,  raised  his  head  to  look,  but  the 
reserve  artillery  was  at  the  rear,  in  the  shelter  of  a  little  grove 
of  trees. 

"  Norn  de  Dieuf"  yelled  Rochas,  "  will  you  lie  down  !  " 
And  Maurice  had  barely  more  than  complied  with  this  inti- 
mation when  a  shell  passed  screaming  over  him.  From  that 
time  forth  there  seemed  to  be  no  end  to  them.  The  enemy's 
gunners  were  slow  in  obtaining  the  range,  their  first  projec- 
tiles passing  over  and  landing  well  to  the  rear  of  the  battery, 
which  was  now  opening  in  reply.  Many  of  their  shells,  too, 
fell  upon  the  soft  ground,  in  which  they  buried  themselves 
without  exploding,  and  for  a  time  there  was  a  great  display  of 
rather  heavy  wit  at  the  expense  of  those  bloody  sauerkraut 
eaters. 

"  Well,  well  !  "  said  Loubet,  "  their  fireworks  are  a  fizzle  !" 
"They  ought  to  take  them  in  out  of  the  rain,"  sneered 
Chouteau. 

Even  Rochas  thought  it  necessary  to  say  something. 
"  Didn't  I  tell  you  that  the  dunderheads  don't  know  enough 
even  to  point  a  gun  ?  " 

But  they  were  less  inclined  to  laugh  when  a  shell  burst  only 
ten  yards  from  them  and  sent  a  shower  of  earth  flying  over 
the  company  ;  Loubet  affected  to  make  light  of  it  by  ordering 
his  comrades  to  get  out  their  brushes  from  the  knapsacks,  but 
Chouteau  suddenly  became  very  pale  and  had  not  a  word  to 
say.  He  had  never  been  under  fire,  nor  had  Pache  and  La- 
poulle,  nor  any  member  of  the  squad,  in  fact,  except  Jean. 
Over  eyes  that  had  suddenly  lost  their  brightness  lids  flick- 
ered tremulously;  voices  had  an  unnatural,  muffled  sound,  as 
if  arrested  by  some  obstruction  in  the  throat.  Maurice,  who 
was  sufficiently  master  of  himself  as  yet,  endeavored  to  diag- 
nose his  symptoms  ;  he  could  not  be  afraid,  for  he  was  not 
conscious  that  he  was  in  danger  ;  he  only  felt  a  slight  sensa-  , 
tion  of  discomfort  in  the  epigastric  region,  and  his  head  y 
seemed  strangely  light  and  empty  ;  ideas  and  images  came  and  \ 
went  independent  of  his  will.  His  recollection  of  the  brave 
show  made  by  the  troops  of  the  26.  division  made  him  hope- 
ful, almost  to  buoyancy  ;  victory  appeared  certain  to  him  if 
only  they  might  be  allowed  to  go  at  the  enemy  with  the 
bayonet. 


214  THE  DOWNFALL 

"  Listen  !  "  he  murmured,  "  how  the  flies  buzz  ;  the  place  is 
full  of  them."  Thrice  he  had  heard  something  that  sounded 
like  the  humming  of  a  swarm  of  bees. 

"  That  was  not  a  fly,"  Jean  said,  with  a  laugh.  "  It  was  a 
bullet." 

Again  and  again  the  hum  of  those  invisible  wings  made  it- 
self heard.  The  men  craned  their  necks  and  looked  about 
them  with  eager  interest ;  their  curiosity  was  uncontrollable — 
would  not  allow  them  to  remain  quiet. 

"  See  here,"  Loubet  said  mysteriously  to  Lapoulle,  with  a 
view  to  raise  a  laugh  at  the  expense  of  his  simple-minded 
comrade,  "  when  you  see  a  bullet  coming  toward  you  you  must 
raise  your  forefinger  before  your  nose — like  that  ;  it  divides 
the  air,  and  the  bullet  will  go  by  to  the  right  or  left." 

"  But  I  can't  see  them,"  said  Lapoulle. 

A  loud  guffaw  burst  from  those  near. 

"  Oh,  crickey  !  he  says  he  can't  see  them  !  Open  your  gar- 
ret  windows,  stupid  !  See  !  there's  one — see  !  there's  an- 
other. Didn't  you  see  that  one  ?  It  was  of  the  most  beauti- 
ful green." 

And  Lapoulle  rolled  his  eyes  and  stared,  placing  his  finger 
before  his  nose,  while  Pache  fingered  the  scapular  he  wore 
and  wished  it  was  large  enough  to  shield  ins  entire  person. 

Rochas,  who  had  remained  on  his  feet  spoke  up  and  said 
jocosely  : 

"  Children,  there  is  no  objection  to  your  ducking  to  the. 
shells  when  you  see  them  coming.  As  for  the  bullets,  it  is  use- 
less ;  they  are  too  numerous  !  " 

At  that  very  instant  a  soldier  in  the  front  rank  was  struck 
on  the  head  by  a  fragment  of  an  exploding  shell.  There  was 
no  outcry  ;  simply  a  spirt  of  blood  and  brain,  and  all  was  over. 

"  Poor  devil  !  "  tranquilly  said  Sergeant  Sapin,  who  was 
quite  cool  and  exceedingly  pale.  "  Next !  " 

But  the  uproar  had  by  this  time  become  so  deafening  that 
the  men  could  no  longer  hear  one  another's  voice  ;  Maurice's 
nerves,  in  particular,  suffered  from  the  infernal  charivari.  The 
neighboring  battery  was  banging  away  as  fast  as  the  gunners 
could  load  the  pieces  ;  the  continuous  roar  seemed  to  shake 
the  ground,  and  the  mitrailleuses  were  even  more  intolerable 
with  their  rasping,  grating,  grunting  noise.  Were  they  to  re- 
main forever  reclining  there  among  the  cabbages?  There  was 
nothing  to  be  seen,  nothing  to  be  learned  ;  no  one  had  any 
idea  how  the  battle  was  going.  And  was  it  a  battle,  after  all 


THE   DOWNFALL  215 

—a  genuine  affair?  All  that  Maurice  could  make  out,  pro- 
jecting his  eyes  along  the  level  surface  of  the  fields,  was  the 
rounded,  wood-clad  summit  of  Hattoy  in  the  remote  distance, 
and  still  unoccupied.  Neither  was  there  a  Prussian  to  be  seen 
anywhere  on  the  horizon  ;  the  only  evidence  of  life  were  the 
faint,  blue  smoke-wreaths  that  rose  and  floated  an  instant  in 
the  sunlight.  Chancing  to  turn  his  head,  he  was  greatly  sur- 
prised to  behold  at  the  bottom  of  a  deep,  sheltered  valley, 
surrounded  by  precipitous  heights,  a  peasant  calmly  tilling  his 
little  field,  driving  the  plow  through  the  furrow  with  the  as- 
sistance of  a  big  white  horse.  Why  should  he  lose  a  day  ? 
The  corn  would  keep  growing,  let  them  fight  as  they  would, 
and  folks  must  live. 

Unable  longer  to  control  his  impatience,  the  young  man 
Jumped  to  his  feet.  He  had  a  fleeting  vision  of  the  batteries 
of  Saint-Menges,  crowned  with  tawny  vapors  and  spewing 
shot  and  shell  upon  them  ;  he  had  also  time  to  see,  what  he 
had  seen  before  and  had  not  forgotten,  the  road  from 
Saint-Albert's  pass  black  with  minute  moving  objects — the 
swarming  hordes  of  the  invader.  Then  Jean  seized  him  by 
the  legs  and  pulled  him  violently  to  his  place  again. 

"  Are  you  crazy  ?     Do  you  want  to  leave  your  bones  here  ?  " 

And  Rochas  chimed  in  : 

"  Lie  down,  will  you  !  What  am  I  to  do  with  such  d — d 
rascals,  who  get  themselves  killed  without  orders  !  " 

"  But  you  don't  lie  down,  lieutenant,"  said  Maurice. 

"That's  a  different  thing.  I  have  to  know  what  is  going 
on." 

Captain  Beaudoin,  too,  kept  his  legs  like  a  man,  but  never 
opened  his  lips  to  say  an  encouraging  word  to  his  men,  having 
nothing  in  common  with  them.  He  appeared  nervous  and 
unable  to  remain  long  in  one  place,  striding  up  and  down  the 
field,  impatiently  awaiting  orders. 

No  orders  came,  nothing  occurred  to  relieve  their  suspense. 
Maurice's  knapsack  was  causing  him  horrible  suffering  ;  it 
seemed  to  be  crushing  his  back  and  chest  in  that  recumbent 
position,  so  painful  when  maintained  for  any  length  of  time. 
The  men  had  been  cautioned  against  throwing  away  their 
sacks  unless  in  case  of  actual  necessity,  and  he  kept  turning 
over,  first  on  his  right  side,  then  on  the  left,  to  ease  him- 
self a  moment  of  his  burden  by  resting  it  on  the  ground. 
The  shells  continued  to  fall  around  them,  but  the  German 
gunners  did  not  succeed  in  getting  the  exact  range  ;  no  one 


2l6  777,5  DOWNFALL 


was  killed  after  the  poor  fellow  who  lay  there  on  his  stomach 
with  his  skull  fractured. 

"  Say,  is  this  thing  to  last  all  day?*'  Maurice  finally  asked 
Jean,  in  sheer  desperation. 

"  Like  enough.  At  Solferino  they  put  us  in  a  field  of  car- 
rots, and  there  we  stayed  five  mortal  hours  with  our  noses  to 
the  ground."  Then  he  added,  like  the  sensible  fellow  he  was  : 
"  Why  do  you  grumble  ?  we  are  not  so  badly  off  here.  You 
will  have  an  opportunity  to  distinguish  yourself  before  the  day 
is  over.  Let  everyone  have  his  chance,  don't  you  see  ;  if  we 
should  all  be  killed  at  the  beginning  there  would  be  none 
left  for  the  end." 

"  Look,"  Maurice  abruptly  broke  in,  **  look  at  that  smoke 
over  Hattoy.  They  have  taken  Hattoy  ;  we  shall  have 
plenty  of  music  to  dance  to  now  !  " 

For  a  moment  his  burning  curiosity,  which  he  was  conscious 
was  now  for  the  first  time  beginning  to  be  dashed  with  per- 
sonal fear,  had  sufficient  to  occupy  it  ;  his  gaze  was  riveted  on 
the  rounded  summit  of  the  mamelon,  the  only  elevation  that 
was  within  his  range  of  vision,  dominating  the  broad  expanse 
of  plain  that  lay  level  with  his  eye.  Hattoy  was  too  far  dis- 
tant to  permit  him  to  distinguish  the  gunners  of  the  batteries 
that  the  Prussians  had  posted  there  ;  he  could  see  nothing  at 
all,  in  fact,  save  the  smoke  that  at  each  discharge  rose  above 
a  thin  belt  of  woods  that  served  to  mask  the  guns.  The 
enemy's  occupation  of  the  position,  of  which  General  Douay 
had  been  forced  to  abandon  the  defense,  was,  as  Maurice  had 
instinctively  felt,  an  event  of  the  gravest  importance  and  des- 
tined to  result  in  the  most  disastrous  consequences  ;  its  pos- 
sessors would  have  entire  command  of  all  the  surrounding 
plateau.  This  was  quickly  seen  to  be  the  case,  for  the  batter- 
ies that  opened  on  the  second  division  of  the  7th  corps  did 
fearful  execution.  They  had  now  perfected  their  range,  and 
the  French  battery,  near  which  Beaudoin's  company  was  sta- 
tioned, had  two  men  killed  in  quick  succession.  A  quarter- 
master's man  in  the  company  had  his  left  heel  carried  away 
by  a  splinter  and  began  to  howl  most  dismally,  as  if  visited 
by  a  sudden  attack  of  madness. 

"  Shut  up,  you  great  calf  !  "  said  Rochas.  "  What  do  you 
mean  by  yelling  like  that  for  a  little  scratch  !  " 

The  man  suddenly  ceased  his  outcries  and  subsided  into  a 
stupid  silence,  nursing  his  foot  in  his  hand. 

And  still  the    tremendous   artillery  duel   raged,   and   the 


THE   DOWN-FALL  2IJ 

death-dealing  missiles  went  screaming  over  the  recumbent 
ranks  of  the  regiments  that  lay  there  on  the  sullen,  sweltering 
plain,  where  no  thing  of  life  was  to  be  seen  beneath  the  blaz- 
ing sun.  The  crashing  thunder,  the  destroying  hurricane,  were 
masters  in  that  solitude,  and  many  long  hours  would  pass  be- 
fore the  end.  But  even  thus  early  in  the  day  the  Germans 
had  demonstrated  the  superiority  of  their  artillery  ;  their  per- 
cussion shells  had  an  enormous  range,  and  exploded,  with 
hardly  an  exception,  on  reaching  their  destination,  while  the 
French  time-fuse  shells,  with  a  much  shorter  range,  burst  for 
the  most  part  in  the  air  and  were  wasted.  And  there  was  noth- 
ing left  for  the  poor  fellows  exposed  to  that  murderous  fire 
save  to  hug  the  ground  and  make  themselves  as  small  as  pos- 
sible ;  they  were  even  denied  the  privilege  of  firing  in  reply, 
which  would  have  kept  their  mind  occupied  and  given  them 
a  measure  of  relief  ;  but  upon  whom  or  what  were  they  to 
direct  their  rifles?  since  there  was  not  a  living  soul  to  be 
seen  upon  the  entire  horizon  ! 

"  Are  we  never  to  have  a  shot  at  them  ?  I  would  give  a 
dollar  for  just  one  chance  !  "  said  Maurice,  in  a  frenzy  of  im- 
patience, "  It  is  disgusting  to  have  them  blazing  away  at  us 
like  this  and  not  be  allowed  to  answer." 

"  Be  patient  ;  the  time  will  come,"  Jean  imperturbably  re- 
plied. 

Their  attention  was  attracted  by  the  sound  of  mounted  men 
approaching  on  their  left,  and  turning  their  heads  they  beheld 
General  Douay,  who,  accompanied  by  his  staff,  had  come 
galloping  up  to  see  how  his  troops  were  behaving  under  the 
terrible  fire  from  Hattoy.  He  appeared  well  pleased  with 
what  he  saw  and  was  in  the  act  of  making  some  suggestions 
to  the  officers  grouped  around  him,  when,  emerging  from  a 
sunken  road,  General  Bourgain-Desfeuilles  also  rode  up. 
This  officer,  though  he  owed  his  advancement  to  "  influence  " 
was  wedded  to  the  antiquated  African  routine  and  had  learned 
nothing  by  experience,  sat  his  horse  with  great  composure 
under  the  storm  of  projectiles.  He  was  shouting  to  the  men 
and  gesticulating  wildly,  after  the  manner  of  Rochas  :  "  They 
are  coming,  they  will  be  here  right  away,  and  then  we'll  let 
them  have  the  bayonet !"  when  he  caught  sight  of  General 
Douay  and  drew  up  to  his  side. 

"  Is  it  true  that  the  marshal  is  wounded,  general  ? "  he 
asked. 

"  It  is  but  too  true,  unfortunately.      I  received  a  note  from 


2l8  THE  DOWNFALL 

Ducrot  only  a  few  minutes  ago,  in  which  he  advises  me  of  the 
fact,  and  also  notifies  me  that,  by  the  marshal's  appointment, 
he  is  in  command  of  the  army." 

"  Ah  !  so  it  is  Ducrot  who  is  to  have  his  place  !  And  what 
are  the  orders  now  ?  " 

The  general  shook  his  head  sorrowfully.  He  had  felt  that 
the  army  was  doomed,  and  for  the  last  twenty-four  hours  had 
been  strenuously  recommending  the  occupation  of  lily  and 
Saint-Menges  in  order  to  keep  a  way  of  retreat  open  on 
Mezieres. 

"  Ducrot  will  carry  out  the  plan  we  talked  of  yesterday  : 
the  whole  army  is  to  be  concentrated  on  the  plateau  of  Illy." 

And  he  repeated  his  previous  gesture,  as  if  to  say  it  was  too 
late. 

His  words  were  partly  inaudible  in  the  roar  of  the  artillery, 
but  Maurice  caught  their  significance  clearly  enough,  and  it 
left  him  dumfounded  by  astonishment  and  alarm.  What  ! 
Marshal  MacMahon  wounded  since  early  that  morning,  Gen- 
eral Ducrot  commanding  in  his  place  for  the  last  two  hours, 
the  entire  army  retreating  to  the  northward  of  Sedan — and 
all  these  important  events  kept  from  the  poor  devils  of  sol- 
diers who  were  squandering  their  life's  blood  !  and  all  their 
destinies,  dependent  on  the  life  of  a  single  man,  were  to  be 
intrusted  to  the  direction  of  fresh  and  untried  hands !  He 
had  a  distinct  consciousness  of  the  fate  that  was  in  reserve 
for  the  army  of  Chalons,  deprived  of  its  commander,  desti- 
tute of  any  guiding  principle  of  action,  dragged  purposelessly 
in  this  direction  and  in  that,  while  the  Germans  went  straight 
and  swift  to  their  preconcerted  end  with  mechanical  precision 
and  directness. 

Bourgain-Desfeuilles  had  wheeled  his  horse  and  was  mov- 
ing away,  when  General  Douay,  to  whom  a  grimy,  dust-stained 
hussar  had  galloped  up  with  another  dispatch,  excitedly  sum- 
moned him  back. 

"  General  !  General !  " 

His  voice  rang  out  so  -loud  and  clear,  with  such  an  accent 
of  surprise,  that  it  drowned  the  uproar  of  the  guns. 

"General,  Ducrot  is  no  longer  in  command  ;  de  Wimpffen 
is  chief.  You  know  he  reached  here  yesterday,  just  in  the 
very  thick  of  the  disaster  at  Beaumont,  to  relieve  de  Fatlly  at 
the  head  of  the  5th  corps — and  he  writes  me  that  he  has 
written  instructions  from  the  Minister  of  War  assigning  him 
to  the  command  of  the  army  in  case  the  post  should  become 


THE  DOWNFALL  219 

vacant.  And  there  is  to  be  no  more  retreating  ;  the  orders 
now  are  to  reoccupy  our  old  positions,  and  defend  them  to  the 
last." 

General  Bourgain-Desfeuilles  drank  in  the  tidings,  his  eyes 
bulging  with  astonishment.  "  Nom  de  Dieu  /  "  he -at  last  suc- 
ceeded in  ejaculating,  "  one  would  like  to  know But  it 

is  no  business  of  mine,  anyhow."  And  off  he  galloped,  not 
allowing  himself  to  be  greatly  agitated  by  this  unexpected 
turn  of  affairs,  for  he  had  gone  into  the  war  solely  in  the  hope 
of  seeing  his  name  raised  a  grade  higher  in  the  army  list,  and 
it  was  his  great  desire  to  behold  the  end  of  the  beastly  cam- 
paign as  soon  as  possible,  since  it  was  productive  of  so  little 
satisfaction  to  anyone. 

Then  there  was  an  explosion  of  derision  and  contempt 
among  the  men  of  Beaudoin's  company.  Maurice  said  noth- 
ing, but  he  shared  the  opinion  of  Chouteau  and  Loubet,  who 
chaffed  and  blackguarded  everyone  without  mercy.  "See-saw, 
up  and  down,  move  as  I  pull  the  string  !  A  fine  gang  they 
were,  those  generals  !  they  understood  one  another  ;  they  were 
not  going  pull  all  the  blankets, off  the  bed  !  What  was  a  poor 
devil  of  a  soldier  to  do  when  he  had  such  leaders  put  over 
him  ?  Three  commanders  in  two  hours'  time,  three  great 
numskulls,  none  of  whom  knew  what  was  the  right  thing  to 
do,  and  all  of  them  giving  different  orders  !  Demoralized, 
were  they  ?  Good  Heavens,  it  was  enough  to  demoralize  God 
Almighty  himself,  and  all  His  angels!"  And  the  inevitable 
accusation  of  treason  was  again  made  to  do  duty  ;  Ducrot 
and  de  Wimpffen  wanted  to  get  three  millions  apiece  out  of 
Bismarck,  as  MacMahon  had  done. 

Alone  in  advance  of  his  staff  General  Douay  sat  on  his  horse 
a  long  time,  his  gaze  bent  on  the  distant  positions  of  the  enemy 
and  in  his  eyes  an  expression  of  infinite  melancholy.  He  made 
a  minute  and  protracted  observation  of.  Hattoy,  the  shells  from 
which  came  tumbling  almost  at  his  very  feet;  then,  giving  a 
glance  at  the  plateau  of  Illy,  called  up  an  officer  to  carry  an 
order  to  the  brigade  of  the  5th  corps  that  he  had  borrowed 
the  day  previous  from  General  de  Wimpffen,  and  which  served 
to  connect  his  right  with  the  left  of  General  Ducrot.  He  was 
distinctly  heard  to  say  these  words  : 

"  If  the  Prussians  should  once  get  possession  of  the  Calvary 
it  would  be  impossible  for  us  to  hold  this  position  an  hour  ; 
we  should  be  driven  into  Sedan." 

He  rode  off  and  was  lost  to  view,  together  with  his  escort,  at 


220  THE  DOWNFALL 

the  entrance  of  the  sunken  road,  and  the  German  fire  became 
hotter  than  before.  They  had  doubtless  observed  the  pres- 
ence of  the  group  of  mounted  officers  ;  but  now  the  shells, 
which  hitherto  had  come  from  the  front,  began  to  fall  upon 
them  laterally,  from  the  left ;  the  batteries  at  Frenois,  together 
with  one  which  the  enemy  had  carried  across  the  river  and 
posted  on  the  peninsula  of  Iges,  had  established,  in  connection 
with  the  guns  on  Hattoy,  an  enfilading  fire  which  swept  the 
plateau  de  1'Algerie  in  its  entire  length  and  breadth.  The 
position  of  the  company  now  became  most  lamentable  ;  the 
men,  with  death  in  front  of  them  and  on  their  flank,  knew  not 
which  way  to  turn  or  which  of  the  menacing  perils  to  guard 
themselves  against.  In  rapid  succession  three  men  were  killed 
outright  and  two  severely  wounded. 

It  was  then  that  Sergeant  Sapin  met  the  death  that  he  had 
predicted  for  himself.  He  had  turned  his  head,  and  caught 
sight  of  the  approaching  missile  when  it  was  too  late  for  him 
to  avoid  it. 

"  Ah.  here  it  is  !  "  was  all  he  said. 

There  was  no  terror  in  the  thin  face,  with  its  big  handsome 
eyes  ;  it  was  only  pale;  very  pale  and  inexpressibly  mournful. 
The  wound  was  in  the  abdomen. 

"  Oh  !  do  not  leave  me  here,"  he  pleaded  ;  "  take  me  to  the 
ambulance,  I  beseech  you.  Take  me  to  the  rear." 

Rochas  endeavored  to  silence  him,  and  it  was  on  his  brutal 
lips  to  say  that  it  was  useless  to  imperil  two  comrades'  lives 
for  one  whose  wound  was  so  evidently  mortal,  when  his  better 
nature  made  its  influence  felt  and  he  murmured  : 

"  Be  patient  for  a  little,  my  poor  boy,  and  the  litter-bearers 
will  come  and  get  you." 

But  the  wretched  man,  whose  tears  were  now  flowing,  kept 
crying,  as  one  distraught  that  his  dream  of  happiness  was  van- 
ishing with  his  trickling  life-blood  : 

"  Take  me  away,  take  me  away " 

Finally  Captain  Beaudoin,  whose  already  unstrung  nerves 
were  further  irritated  by  his  pitiful  cries,  called  for  two  volun- 
teers to  carry  him  to  a  little  piece  of  woods  a  short  way  off 
where  a  flying  ambulance  had  been  established.  Chouteau 
and  Loubet  jumped  to  their  feet  simultaneously,  anticipating 
the  others,  seized  the  sergeant,  one  of  them  by  the  shoulders, 
the  other  by  the  legs,  and  bore  him  away  on  a  run.  They  had 
gone  but  a  little  way,  however,  when  they  felt  the  body  becom- 
ing rigid  in  the  fina.1  convulsion  ;  he  was  dying. 


THE  DOWNFALL  221 

"  I  say,  he's  dead,"  exclaimed  Loubet.  "  Let's  leave  him 
here." 

But  Chouteau,  without  relaxing  his  speed,  angrily  replied  : 

"  Go  ahead,  you  booby,  will  you  !  Do  you  take  me  for  a 
fool,  to  leave  him  here  and  have  them  call  us  back  !  " 

They  pursued  their  course  with  the  corpse  until  they  came 
to  the  little  wood,  threw  it  down  at  the  foot  of  a  tree,  and  went 
their  way.  That  was  the  last  that  was  seen  of  them  until 
nightfall". 

The  battery  beside  them  had  been  strengthened  by  three 
additional  guns  ;  the  cannonade  on  either  side  went  on  with  in- 
creased fury,  and  in  the  hideous  uproar  terror — a  wild, unreason- 
ing terror — filled  Maurice's  soul.  It  was  his  first  experience  of 
the  sensation;  he  had  not  until' now  felt  that  cold  sweat  trickling 
down  his  back,  that  terrible  sinking  at  the  pit  of  the  stomach, 
that  unconquerable  desire  to  get  on  his  feet  and  run,  yelling 
and  screaming,  from  the  field.  It  was  nothing  more  than  the 
strain  from  which  his  nervous,  high-strung  temperament  was 
suffering  from  reflex  action  ;  but  Jean,  who  was  observing  him 
narrowly,  detected  the  incipient  crisis  in  the  wandering,  vacant 
eyes,  and  seizing  him  with  his  strong  hand,  held  him  down 
firmly  at  his  side.  The  corporal  lectured  him  paternally  in  a 
whisper,  not  mincing  his  words,  but  employing  good,  vigorous 
language  to  restore  him  to  a  sense  of  self-respect,  for  he  knew 
by  experience  that  a  man  in  panic  is  not  to  be  coaxed  out  of 
his  cowardice.  There  were  others  also  who  were  showing  the 
white  feather,  among  them  Pache,  who  was  whimpering  invol- 
untarily, in  the  low,  soft  voice  of  a  little  baby,  his  eyes  suffused 
with  tears.  Lapoulle's  stomach  betrayed  him  and  he  was  very 
ill  ;  and  there  were  many  others  who  also  found  relief  in  vomit- 
ing, amid  their  comrade's  loud  jeers  and  laughter,  which  helped 
to  restore  their  courage  to  them  all. 

"  My  God  !  "  ejaculated  Maurice,  ghastly  pale,  his  teeth 
chattering.  "  My  God  !  " 

Jean  shook  him  roughly.  "You  infernal  coward,  are  you 
going  to  be  sick  like  those  fellows  over  yonder  ?  Behave 
yourself,  or  I'll  box  your  ears." 

He  was  trying  to  put  heart  into  his  friend  by  gruff  but 
friendly  speeches  like  the  above,  when  they  suddenly  beheld  a 
dozen  dark  forms  emerging  from  a  little  wood  upon  their  front 
and  about  four  hundred  yards  away.  Their  spiked  helmets 
announced  them  to  be  Prussians  ;  the  first  Prussians  they  had 
had  within  reach  of  their  rifles  since  the  opening  of  the  cam- 


222  THE  DOWNFALL 

paign.  This  first  squad  was  succeeded  by  others,  and  in 
front  of  their  position  the  little  dust  clouds  that  rose  where 
the  French  shells  struck  were  distinctly  visible.  It  was  all 
very  vivid  and  clear-cut  in  the  transparent  air  of  morning  ; 
the  Germans,  outlined  against  the  dark  forest,  presented  the 
toy-like  appearance  of  those  miniature  soldiers  of  lead  that 
are  the  delight  of  children  ;  then,  as  the  enemy's  shells  began 
to  drop  in  their  vicinity  with  uncomfortable  frequency,  they 
withdrew  and  were  lost  to  sight  within  the  wood  whence  they 
had  come. 

But  Beaudoin's  company  had  seen  them  there  once,  and  to 
their  eyes  they  were  there  still  ;  the  chassepots  seemed  to  go 
off  of  their  own  accord.  Maurice  was  the  first  man  to  dis- 
charge his  piece  ;  Jean,  Pache,  Lapoulle  and  the  others  all 
followed  suit.  There  had  been  no  order  given  to  commence 
firing,  and  the  captain  made  an  attempt  to  check  it,  but  de- 
sisted upon  Rochas's  representation  that  it  was  absolutely  nec- 
essary as  a  measure  of  relief  for  the  men's  pent-up  feelings. 
So,  then,  they  were  at  liberty  to  shoot  at  last,  they  could  use 
up  those  cartridges  that  they  had  been  lugging  around  with 
them  for  the  last  month,  without  ever  burning  a  single  one  ! 
The  effect  on  Maurice  in  particular  was  electrical  ;  the  noise 
he  made  had  the  effect  of  dispelling  his  fear  and  blunting  the 
keenness  of  his  sensations.  The  little  wood  had  resumed  its 
former  deserted  aspect ;  not  a  leaf  stirred,  no  more  Prussians 
showed  themselves  ;  and  still  they  kept  on  blazing  away  as 
madly  as  ever  at  the  immovable  trees. 

Raising  his  eyes  presently  Maurice  was  startled  to  see  Col- 
onel de  Vineuil  sitting  his  big  horse  at  no  great  distance,  man 
and  steed  impassive  and  motionless  as  if  carved  from  stone  , 
patient  were  they  under  the  leaden  hail,  with  face  turned 
toward  the  enemy.  The  entire  regiment  was  now  collected  in 
that  vicinity,  the  other  companies  being  posted  in  the  adjacent 
fields  ;  the  musketry  fire  seemed  to  be  drawing  nearer.  The 
young  man  also  beheld  the  regimental  colors  a  little  to  the 
rear,  borne  aloft  by  the  sturdy  arm  of  the  standard-bearer, 
but  it  was  no  longer  the  phantom  flag  that  he  had  seen  that 
morning,  shrouded  in  rnist  and  fog  ;  the  golden  eagle  flashed 
and  blazed  in  the  fierce  sunlight,  and  the  tri-colored  silk,  de- 
spite the  rents  and  stains  of  many  a  battle,  flaunted  its  bright 
hues  defiantly  to  the  breeze.  Waving  in  the  breath  of  the 
cannon,  floating  proudly  against  the  blue  of  heaven,  it  shone 
like  an  emblem  of  victory. 


THE  DOWNFALL 

And  why,  now  that  the  day  of  battle  had  arrived,  should 
not  victory  perch  upon  that  banner  ?  With  that  reflection 
Maurice  and  his  companions  kept  on  industriously  wasting 
their  powder  on  the  distant  wood,  producing  havoc  there 
among  the  leaves  and  twigs. 

III. 

SLEEP  did  not  visit  Henriette's  eyes  that  night.  She  knew 
her  husband  to  be  a  prudent  man,  but  the  thought  that 
he  was  in  Bazeilles,  so  near  the  German  lines,  was  cause  to 
her  of  deep  anxiety.  She  tried  to  soothe  her  apprehensions  by 
reminding  herself  that  she  had  his  solemn  promise  to  return 
at  the  first  appearance  of  danger  ;  it  availed  not,  and  at  every 
instant  she  detected  herself  listening  to  catch  the  sound  of  his 
footstep  on  the  stair.  At  ten  o'clock,  as  she  was  about  to  go 
to  bed,  she  opened  her  window,  and  resting  her  elbows  on  the 
sill,  gazed  out  into  the  night. 

The  darkness  was  intense  ;  looking  downward,  she  could 
scarce  discern  the  pavement  of  the  Rue  des  Voyards,  a  nar- 
row, obscure  passage,  overhung  by  old  frowning  mansions. 
Further  on,  in  the  direction  of  the  college,  a  smoky  street  lamp 
burned  dimly.  A  nitrous  exhalation  rose  from  the  street ;  the 
squall  of  a  vagrant  cat  ;  the  heavy  step  of  a  belated  soldier. 
From  the  city  at  her  back  came  strange  and  alarming  sounds  : 
the  patter  of  hurrying  feet,  an  ominous,  incessant  rumbling, 
a  muffled  murmur  without  a  name  that  chilled  her  blood. 
Her  heart  beat  loudly  in  her  bosom  as  she  bent  her  ear  to 
listen,  and  still  she  heard  not  the  familiar  echo  of  her  hus- 
band's step  at  the  turning  of  the  street  below. 

Hours  passed,  and  now  distant  lights  that  began  to  twinkle  in 
the  open  fields  beyond  the  ramparts  excited  afresh  her  appre- 
hensions. It  was  so  dark  that  it  cost  her  an  effort  of  memory 
to  recall  localities.  She  knew  that  the  broad  expanse  that  lay 
beneath  her,  reflecting  a  dim  light,  was  the  flooded  meadows, 
and  that  flame  that  blazed  up  and  was  suddenly  extinguished, 
surely  it  must  be  on  la  Marfee.  But  never,  to  her  certain  knowl- 
edge, had  there  been  farmer's  house  or  peasant's  cottage  on 
those  heights  ;  what,  then,  was  the  meaning  of  that  light  ? 
And  then  on  every  hand,  at  Pont-Maugis,  Noyers,  Frenois, 
other  fires  arose,  coruscating  fitfully  for  an  instant  and  giving 
mysterious  indication  of  the  presence  of  the  swarming  host 
that  lay  hidden  in  the  bosom  of  the  nigfht.  Yet  more  :  there 


224  THE  DOWNFALL 

were  strange  sounds  and  voices  in  the  air,  subdued  murmur- 
ings  such  as  she  had  never  heard  before,  and  that  made  her 
start  in  terror  ;  the  stifled  hum  of  marching  men,  the  neighing 
and  snorting  of  steeds,  the  clash  of  arms,  hoarse  words  of 
command,  given  in  guttural  accents  ;  an  evil  dream  of  a  demo- 
niac crew,  a  witch's  sabbat,  in  the  depths  of  those  unholy 
shades.  Suddenly  a  single  cannon-shot  rang  out,  ear- rend- 
ing,  adding  fresh  terror  to  the  dead  silence  that  succeeded 
it.  It  froze  her  very  marrow  ;  what  could  it  mean  ?  A  sig- 
nal, doubtless,  telling  of  the  successful  completion  of  some 
movement,  announcing  that  everything  was  ready,  down  there, 
and  that  now  the  sun  might  rise. 

It  was  about  two  o'clock  when  Henriette,  forgetting  even 
to  close  her  window,  at  last  threw  herself,  fully  dressed,  upon 
her  bed.  Her  anxiety  and  fatigue  had  stupefied  her  and  be- 
numbed her  faculties.  What  could  ail  her,  thus  to  shiver  and 
burn  alternately,  she  who  was  always  so  calm  and  self-reliant, 
moving  with  so  light  a  step  that  those  about  her  were  uncon- 
scious of  her  existence  ?  Finally  she  sank  into  a  fitful,  broken 
slumber  that  brought  with  it  no  repose,  in  which  was  present 
still  that  persistent  sensation  of  impending  evil  that  rilled  the 
dusky  heavens.  All  at  once,  arousing  her  from  her  unrefresh- 
ing  stupor,  the  firing  commenced  again,  faint  and  muffled  in 
the  distance,  not  a  single  shot  this  time,  but  peal  after  peal 
following  one  another  in  quick  succession.  Trembling,  she 
sat  upright  in  bed.  The  firing  continued.  Where  was  she  ? 
The  place  seemed  strange  to  her  ;  she  could  not  distinguish 
the  objects  in  her  chamber,  which  appeared  to  be  filled  with 
dense  clouds  of  smoke.  Then  she  remembered  :  the  fog  must 
have  rolled  in  from  the  near-by  river  and  entered  the  room 
through  the  window.  Without,  the  distant  firing  was  growing 
fiercer.  She  leaped  from  her  bed  and  ran  to  the  casement  to 
listen. 

Four  o'clock  was  striking  from  a  steeple  in  Sedan,  and  day 
was  breaking,  tinging  the  purplish  mists  with  a  sickly,  sinister 
light.  It  was  impossible  to  discern  objects  ;  even  the  college 
buildings,  distant  but  a  few  yards,  were  urjdistinguishable. 
Where  could  the  firing  be,  mon  Dieu  !  Her  first  thought  was 
for  her  brother  Maurice,  for  the  reports  were  so  indistinct  that 
they  seemed  to  her  to  come  from  the  north,  above  the  city  ; 
then,  listening  more  attentively,  her  doubt  became  certainty  ; 
the  cannonading  was  there,  before  her,  and  she  trembled  for 
her  husband.  It  was  surely  at  Bazeilles.  For  a  little  time, 


THE  DOWNFALL  225 

however,  she  suffered  herself  to  be  cheered  by  a  ray  of  hope,  for 
there  were  moments  when  the  reports  seemed  to  come  from  the 
right.  Perhaps  the  fighting  was  at  Donchery,  where  she  knew 
that  the  French  had  not  succeeded  in  blowing  up  the  bridge. 
Then  she  lapsed  into  a  condition  of  most  horrible  uncertainty; 
it  seemed  to  be  now  at  Donchery,  now  at  Bazeilles ;  which,  it 
was  impossible  to  decide,  there  was  such  a  ringing,  buzzing 
sensation  in  her  head.  At  last  the  feeling  of  suspense  became 
so  acute  that  she  felt  she  could  not  endure  it  longer  ;  she 
must  know  ;  every  nerve  in  her  body  was'  quivering  with  the 
ungovernable  desire,  so  she  threw  a  shawl  over  her  shoulders 
and  left  the  house  in  quest  of  news. 

When  she  had  descended  and  was  in  the  street  Henriette 
hesitated  a  brief  moment,  for  the  little  light  that  was  in  the 
east  had  not  yet  crept  downward  along  the  weather-blackened 
house-fronts  to  the  roadway,  and  in  the  old  city,  shrouded  in 
opaque  fog,  the  darkness  still  reigned  impenetrable.  In  the 
tap-room  of  a  low  pot-house  in  the  Rue  au  Beurre,  dimly 
lighted  by  a  tallow  candle,  she  saw  two  drunken  Turcos  and  a 
woman.  It  was  not  until  she  turned  into  the  Rue  Maqua  that 
she  encountered  any  signs  of  life  :  soldiers  slinking  furtively 
along  the  sidewalk  and  hugging  the  walls,  deserters  probably, 
on  the  lookout  fora  place  in  which  to  hide  ;  a  stalwart  trooper 
with  despatches,  searching  for  his  captain  and  knocking 
thunderously  at  every  door  ;  a  group  of  fat  burghers,  trembling 
with  fear  lest  they  had  tarried  there  too  long,  and  preparing 
to  crowd  themselves  into  one  small  carriole  if  so  be  they 
might  yet  reach  Bouillon,  in  Belgium,  whither  half  the  popu- 
lation of  Sedan  had  emigrated  within  the  last  two  days.  She 
instinctively  turned  her  steps  toward  the  Sous-Prefecture, 
where  she  might  depend  on  receiving  information,  and  her 
desire  to  avoid  meeting  acquaintances  determined  her  to  take 
a  short  cut  through  lanes  and  by-ways.  On  reaching  the  Rue 
du  Four  and  the  Rue  des  Laboureurs,  however,  she  found  an 
obstacle  in  her  way  ;  the  place  had  been  pre-empted  by  the 
ordnance  department,  and  guns,  caissons,  forges  were  there  in 
interminable  array,  having  apparently  been  parked  away  in 
that  remote  corner  the  day  before  and  then  forgotten  there. 
There  was  not  so  much  as  a  sentry  to  guard  them.  It  sent  a 
chill  to  her  heart  to  see  all  that  artillery  lying  there  silent  and 
ineffective,  sleeping  its  neglected  sleep  in  the  concealment  of 
those  deserted  alleys.  She  was  compelled  to  retrace  her  steps, 
therefore,  which  she  did  by  passing  through  the  Place  du  Col- 


226  THE   DOWNFALL 

lege  to  the  Grande-Rue,  where  in  front  of  the  Hotel  de  1'Eu- 
rope  she  saw  a  group  of  orderlies  holding  the  chargers  of 
some  general  officers,  whose  high-pitched  voices  were  audible 
from  the  brilliantly  lighted  dining-room.  On  the  Place  du 
Rivage  and  the  Place  Turenne  the  crowd  was  even  greater 
still,  composed  of  anxious  groups  of  citizens,  with  women  and 
children  interspersed  among  the  struggling,  terror-stricken 
throng,  hurrying  in  every  direction ;  and  there  she  saw  a  gen- 
eral  emerge  from  the  Hotel  of  the  Golden  Cross,  swearing  like 
a  pirate,  and  spur  his  horse  off  up  the  street  at  a  mad  gallop, 
careless  whom  he  might  overturn.  For  a  moment  she  seemed 
about  to  enter  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  then  changed  her  mind,  and 
taking  the  Rue  du  Pont-de-Meuse,  pushed  on  to  the  Sous- 
Prefecture. 

Never  had  Sedan  appeared  to  her  in  a  light  so  tragically 
sinister  as  now,  when  she  beheld  it  in  the  livid,  forbidding  light 
of  early  dawn,  enveloped  in  its  shroud  of  fog.  The  houses 
were  lifeless  and  silent  as  tombs  ;  many  of  them  had  been 
empty  and  abandoned  for  the  last  two  days,  others  the  terri- 
fied owners  had  closely  locked  and  barred.  Shuddering,  the 
city  awoke  to  the  cares  and  occupations  of  the  new  day  ;  the 
morning  was  fraught  with  chill  misery  in  those  streets,  still 
half  deserted,  peopled  only  by  a  few  frightened  pedestrians 
and  those  hurrying  fugitives,  the  remnant  of  the  exodus  of  pre- 
vious days.  Soon  the  sun  would  rise  and  send  down  its  cheer- 
ful light  upon  the  scene ;  soon  the  city,  overwhelmed  in  the 
swift-rising  tide  of  disaster,  would  be  crowded  as  it  had  never 
been  before.  It  was  half-past  five  o'clock  ;  the  roar  of  the 
cannon,  caught  and  deadened  among  the  tall  dingy  houses, 
sounded  more  faintly  in  her  ears. 

At  the  Sous-Prefecture  Henriette  had  some  acquaintance 
with  the  concierge's  daughter,  Rose  by  name,  a  pretty  little 
blonde  of  refined  appearance  who  was  employed  in  Delaherche's 
factory.  She  made  her  way  at  once  to  the  lodge  ;  the  mother 
was  not  there,  but  Rose  received  her  with  her  usual  ami- 
ability. 

"  Oh  !  dear  lady,  we  are  so  tired  we  can  scarcely  stand  ; 
mamma  has  gone  to  lie  down  and  rest  a  while.  Just  think  ! 
all  night  long  people  have  been  coming  and  going,  and  we 
have  not  been  able  to  get  a  wink  of  sleep." 

And  burning  to  tell  all  the  wonderful  sights  that  she  had 
been  witness  to  since  the  preceding  day,  she  did  not  wait  to 
be  questioned,  but  ran  on  volubly  with  her  narrative. 


THE  DOWNFALL  227 

"  As  for  the  marshal,  he  slept  very  well,  but  that  poor 
Emperor  !  you  can't  think  what  suffering  he  has  to  endure  ! 
Yesterday  evening,  do  you  know,  I  had  gone  upstairs  to  help 
give  out  the  linen,  and  as  I  entered  the  apartment  that  adjoins 
his  dressing-room  I  heard  groans,  oh,  such  groans  !  just  like 
someone  dying.  I  thought  a  moment  and  knew  it  must  be 
the  Emperor,  and  I  was  so  frightened  I  couldn't  move  ;  I  just 
stood  and  trembled.  It  seems  he  has  some  terrible  complaint 
that  makes  him  cry  out  that  way.  When  there  are  people 
around  he  holds  in,  but  as  soon  as  he  is  alone  it  is  too  much 
for  him,  and  he  groans  and  shrieks  in  a  way  to  make  your 
hair  stand  on  end." 

"  Do  you  know  where  the  fighting  is  this  morning  ?"  asked 
Henriette,  desiring  to  check  her  loquacity. 

Rose  dismissed  the  question  with  a  wave  of  her  little  hand 
and  went  on  with  her  narrative. 

"  That  made  me  curious  to  know  more,  you  see,  and  I  went 
upstairs  four  or  five  times  during  the  night  and  listened,  and 
every  time  it  was  just  the  same  ;  I  don't  believe  he  was  quiet 
an  instant  all  night  long,  or  got  a  minute's  sleep.  Oh  !  what 
a  terrible  thing  it  is  to  suffer  like  that  with  all  he  has  to  worry 
him  !  for  everything  is  upside  down  ;  it  is  all  a  most  dreadful 
mess.  Upon  my  word,  I  believe  those  generals  are  out  of 
their  senses  ;  such  ghostly  faces  and  frightened  eyes  !  And 
people  coming  all  the  time,  and  doors  banging,  and  some  men 
scolding  and  others  crying,  and  the  whole  place  like  a  sailor's 
boarding-house  ;  officers  drinking  from  bottles  and  going  to 
bed  in  their  boots  !  The  Emperor  is  the  best  of  the  whole  lot, 
and  the  one  who  gives  least  trouble,  in  the  corner  where  he 
conceals  himself  and  his  suffering  !  "  Then,  in  reply  to  Hen- 
riette's  reiterated  question:  "  The  fighting?  there  has  been 
fighting  at  Bazeilles  this  morning.  A  mounted  officer  brought 
word  of  it  to  the  marshal,  who  went  immediately  to  notify  the 
Emperor.  The  marshal  has  been  gone  ten  minutes,  and  I 
shouldn't  wonder  if  the  Emperor  intends  to  follow  him,  for 
they  are  dressing  him  upstairs.  I  just  now  saw  them  comb- 
ing him  and  plastering  his  face  with  all  sorts  of  cosmetics.'1 

But  Henriette,  having  finally  learned  what  she  desired  to 
know,  rose  to  go. 

"  Thank  you,  Rose.  I  am  in  somewhat  of  a  hurry  this 
morning." 

The  young  girl  went  with  her  to  the  street  door,  and  took 
leave  of  her  with  a  courteous  ; 


228  THE  DOWNFALL 

"  Glad  to  have  been  of  service  to  you,  Madame  Weiss.  I 
know  that  anything  said  to  you  will  go  no  further." 

Henriette  hurried  back  to  her  house  in  the  Rue  des  Voyards. 
She  felt  quite  certain  that  her  husband  would  have  returned, 
and  even  reflected  that  he  would  be  alarmed  at  not  finding  her 
there,  and  hastened  her  steps  in  consequence.  As  she  drew 
near  the  house  she  raised  her  eyes  in  the  expectation  of  seeing 
him  at  the  window  watching  for  her,  but  the  window,  wide 
open  as  she  had  left  it  when  she  went  out,  was  vacant,  and 
when  she  had  run  up  the  stairs  and  given  a  rapid  glance 
through  her  three  rooms,  it  was  with  a  sinking  heart  that  she 
saw  they  were  untenanted  save  for  the  chill  fog  and  continu- 
ous roar  of  the  cannonade.  The  distant  firing  was  still  going 
on.  She  went  and  stood  for  a  moment  at  the  window  ;  al- 
though the  encircling  wall  of  vapor  was  not  less  dense  than  it 
had  been  before,  she  seemed  to  have  a  clearer  apprehension, 
now  that  she  had  received  oral  information,  of  the  details  of 
the  conflict  raging  at  Bazeilles,  the  grinding  sound  of  the 
mitrailleuses,  the  crashing  volleys  of  the  French  batteries  an- 
swering the  German  batteries  in  the  distance.  The  reports 
seemed  to  be  drawing  nearer  to  the  city,  the  battle  to  be  wax- 
ing fiercer  and  fiercer  with  every  moment. 

Why  did  not  Weiss  return  ?  He  had  pledged  himself  so 
faithfully  not  to  outstay  the  first  attack  !  And  Henriette  be- 
gan to  be  seriously  alarmed,  depicting  to  herself  the  various 
obstacles  that  might  have  detained  him  :  perhaps  he  had  not 
been  able  to  leave  the  village,  perhaps  the  roads  were  blocked 
or  rendered  impassable  by  the  projectiles.  It  might  even  be 
that  something  had  happened  him,  but  she  put  the  thought 
aside  and  would  not  dwell  on  it,  preferring  to  view  things  on 
their  brighter  side  and  finding  in  hope  her  safest  mainstay  and 
reliance.  For  an  instant  she  harbored  the  design  of  starting 
out  and  trying  to  find  her  husband,  but  there  were  considera- 
tions that  seemed  to  render  that  course  inadvisable  :  suppos- 
ing him  to  have  started  on  his  return,  what  would  become  of 
her  should  she  miss  him  on  the  way?  and  what  would  be  his 
anxiety  should  he  come  in  and  find  her  absent  ?  Her  guiding 
principle  in  all  her  thoughts  and  actions  was  her  gentle,  affec- 
tionate devotedness,  and  she  saw  nothing  strange  or  out  of 
the  way  in  a  visit  to  Bazeilles  under  such  extraordinary  circum- 
stances, accustomed  as  she  was,  like  an  affectionate  little 
woman,  to  perform  her  duty  in  silence  and  do  the  thing  that 
she  deemed  best  for  their  common  interest,  Where  her 


THE  DOWNFALL  229 

husband  was,  there  was   her  place  ;    that  was  all  there  was 
about  it. 

She  gave  a  sudden  start  and  left  the  window,  saying  : 

"  Monsieur  Delaherche,  how  could  I  forget " 

It  had  just  come  to  her  recollection  that  the  cloth  manufac- 
turer had  also  passed  the  night  at  Bazeilles,«and  if  he  had  re- 
turned would  be  able  to  give  her  the  intelligence  she  wanted. 
She  ran  swiftly  down  the  stairs  again.  In  place  of  taking  the 
more  roundabout  way  by  the  Rue  des  Voyards,  she  crossed 
the  little  courtyard  of  her  house  and  entered  the  passage  that 
conducted  to  the  huge  structure  that  fronted  on  the  Rue 
Maqua.  As  she  came  out  into  the  great  central  garden,  paved 
with  flagstones  now  and  retaining  of  its  pristine  glories  only 
a  few  venerable  trees,  magnificent  century-old  elms,  she  was 
astonished  to  see  a  sentry  mounting  guard  at  the  door  of  a 
carriage-house  ;  then  it  occurred  to  her  that  she  had  been  told 
the  day  before  that  the  camp  chests  of  the  yth  corps  had  been 
deposited  there  for  safe  keeping,  and  it  produced  a  strange 
impression  on  her  mind  that  all  the  gold,  millions,  it  was  said 
to  amount  to,  should  be  lying  in  that  shed  while  the  men  for 
whom  it  was  destined  were  being  killed  not  far  away.  As  she 
was  about  to  ascend  the  private  staircase,  however,  that  con- 
ducted to  the  apartment  of  Gilberte,  young  Madame  Dela- 
herche, she  experienced  another  surprise  in  an  encounter  that 
startled  her  so  that  she  retraced  her  steps  a  little  way,  doubt- 
ful whether  it  would  not  be  better  to  abandon  her  intention 
and  go  home  again.  An  officer,  a  captain,  had  crossed  her 
path,  as  noiselessly  as  a  phantom  and  vanishing  as  swiftly,  and 
yet  she  had  had  time  to  recognize  him,  having  seen  him  in  the 
past  at  Gilberte's  house  in  Charleville,  in  the  days  when  she 
was  still  Madame  Maginot.  She  stepped  back  a  few  steps  in 
the  courtyard  and  raised  her  eyes  to  the  two  tall  windows  of 
the  bedroom,  the  blinds  of  which  were  closed,  then  dismissed 
her  scruples  and  entered. 

Upon  reaching  the  first  floor,  availing  herself  of 'that  privi- 
lege of  old  acquaintanceship  by  virtue  of  which  one  woman 
often  drops  in  upon  another  for  an  unceremonious  early  morn- 
ing chat,  she  was  about  to  knock  at  the  door  of  the  dressing- 
room,  but  apparently  someone  had  left  the  room  hastily  and 
failed  to  secure  the  door,  so  that  it  was  standing  ajar,  and  all 
she  had  to  do  was  give  it  a  push  to  find  herself  in  the  dressing- 
room,  whence  she  passed  into  the  bedroom.  From  the  lofty 
ceiling  of  the  latter  apartment  depended  voluminous  curtains 


230  THE  DOWNFALL 

of  red  velvet,  protecting  the  large  double  bed.  The  warm, 
moist  air  was  fragrant  with  a  faint  perfume  of  Persian  lilac, 
and  there  was  no  sound  to  break  the  silence  save  a  gentle, 
regular  respiration,  scarcely  audible. 

"  Gilberte  !  "  said  Henrietta,  very  softly. 

The  young  worfian  was  sleeping  peacefully,  and  the  dim 
light  that  entered  the  room  between  the  red  curtains  of  the 
high  windows  displayed  her  exquisitely  rounded  head  resting 
upon  a  naked  arm  and  her  profusion  of  beautiful  hair  straying 
in  disorder  over  the  pillow.  Her  lips  were  parted  in  a 
smile. 

"  Gilberte ! " 

She  slightly  moved  and  stretched  her  arms,  without  opening 
her  eyes. 

"  Yes,  yes  ;  good-by.  Oh  !  please —  Then,  raising  her 
head  and  recognizing  Henriette  :  "  What,  is  it  you  !  How 
late  is  it?" 

When  she  learned  that  it  had  not  yet  struck  six  she  seemed 
disconcerted,  assuming  a  sportive  air  to  hide  her  embarrass- 
ment, saying  it  was  unfair  to  come  waking  people  up  at  such 
an  hour.  Then,  to  her  friend,  questioning  her  about  her  hus- 
band, she  made  answer  : 

"  Why,  he  has  not  returned  ;  I  don't  look  for  him  much  be- 
fore nine  o'clock.  What  makes  you  so  eager  to  see  him  at 
this  hour  of  the  morning  ?  " 

Henriette's  voice  had  a  trace  of  sternness  in  it  as  she  an- 
swered, seeing  the  other  so  smiling,  so  dull  of  comprehension 
in  her  happy  waking. 

"  I  tell  you  there  has  been  fighting  all  the  morning  at  Bazeilles, 
and  I  am  anxious  about  my  husband." 

"  Oh,  my  dear,"  exclaimed  Gilberte,  "  I  assure  you  there  is 
not  the  slightest  reason  for  your  feeling  so.  My  husband  is  so 
prudent  that  he  would  have  been  home  long  ago  had  there 
been  any  danger.  Until  you  see  him  back  here  you  may  rest 
easy,  take  my  word  for  it." 

Henriette  was  struck  by  the  justness  of  the  argument ; 
Delaherche,  it  was  true,  was  distinctly  not  a  man  to  expose 
himself  uselessly.  She  was  reassured,  and  went  and  drew  the 
curtains  and  threw  back  the  blinds  ;  the  tawny  light  from 
without,  where  the  sun  was  beginning  to  pierce  the  fog  with 
his  golden  javelins,  streamed  in  a  bright  flood  into  the  apart- 
ment. One  of  the  windows  was  part  way  open,  and  in  the 
soft  air  of  the  spacious  bedroom,  but  now  so  close  and  stuffy, 


THE  DOWNFALL  2^1 

the  two  women  could  hear  the  sound  of  the  guns.  Gilberte, 
half  recumbent,  her  elbow  resting  on  the  pillow,  gazed  out 
upon  the  sky  with  her  lustrous,  vacant  eyes. 

"  So,  then,  they  are  fighting,"  she  murmured.  Her  chemise 
had  slipped  downward,  exposing  a  rosy,  rounded  shoulder, 
half  hidden  beneath  the  wandering  raven  tresses,  and  her  per- 
son exhaled  a  subtle,  penetrating  odor,  the  odor  of  love. 
"  They  are  fighting,  so  early  in  the  morning,  mon  Dieu !  It 
would  be  ridiculous  if  it  were  not  for  the  horror  of  it." 

But  Henriette,  in  looking  about  the  room,  had  caught  sight 
of  a  pair  of  gauntlets,  the  gloves  of  a  man,  lying  forgotten  on 
a  small  table,  and  she  started  perceptibly.  Gilberte  blushed 
deeply,  and  extending  her  arms  with  a  conscious,  caressing 
movement,  drew  her  friend  to  her  and  rested  her  head  upon 
her  bosom 

"  Yes,"  she  almost  whispered,  "  I  saw  that  you  noticed  it. 
Darling,  you  must  not  judge  me  too  severely.  He  is  an  old 
friend  ;  I  told  you  all  about  it  at  Charleville,  long  ago,  you  re- 
member." Her  voice  sank  lower  still  ;  there  was  something 
that  sounded  very  like  a  laugh  of  satisfaction  in  her  tender 
tones.  "  He  pleaded  so  with  me  yesterday  that  I  would  see 
him  just  once  more.  Just  think,  this  morning  he  is  in  action  ; 
he  may  be  dead  by  this.  How  could  I  refuse  him  ? "  It  was 
all  so  heroic  and  so  charming,  the  contrast  was  so  delicious 
between  war's  stern  reality  and  tender  sentiment  ;  thoughtless 
as  a  linnet,  she  smiled  again,  notwithstanding  her  confusion. 
Never  could  she  have  found  it  in  her  heart  to  drive  him  from 
her  door,  when  circumstances  all  were  propitious  for  the  in- 
terview. "  Do  you  condemn  me  ?  " 

Henriette  had  listened  to  her  confidences  with  a  very  grave 
face.  Such  things  surprised  her,  for  she  could  not  under- 
stand them  ;  it  must  be  that  she  was  constituted  differently 
from  other  women.  Her  heart  that  morning  was  with  her 
husband,  her  brother,  down  there  where  the  battle  was  rag- 
ing. How  was  it  possible  that  anyone  could  sleep  so  peace- 
fully and  be  so  gay  and  cheerful  when  the  loved  ones  were  in 
peril  ? 

"  But  think  of  your  husband,  my  dear,  and  of  that  poor 
young  man  as  well.  Does  not  your  heart  yearn  to  be  with 
them  ?  You  do  not  reflect  that  their  lifeless  forms  may  be 
brought  in  and  laid  before  your  eyes  at  any  moment." 

Gilberte  raised  her  adorable  bare  arm  before  her  face  to 
shield  her  vision  from  the  frightful  picture. 


23 2  THE  DOWNFALL 

"  O  Heaven  !  what  is  that  you  say  ?  It  is  cruel  of  you  to 
destroy  all  the  pleasure  of  my  morning  in  this  way.  No,  no  ; 
I  won't  think  of  such  things.  They  are  too  mournful." 

Henriette  could  not  refrain  from  smiling  in  spite  of  her  anx- 
iety. She  was  thinking  of  the  days  of  their  girlhood,  and  how 
Gilberte's  father, Captain  de  Vineuil,  an  old  naval  officer  who  had 
bv^en  made  collector  of  customs  at  Charleville  when  his  wounds 
had  incapacitated  him  for  active  service,  hearing  his  daughter 
cough  and  fearing  for  her  the  fate  of  his  young  wife,  who  had 
been  snatched  from  his  arms  by  that  terrible  disease,  consump- 
tion, had  sent  her  to  live  at  a  farm-house  near  Chene  Populeux. 
The  little  maid  was  not  nine  years  old,  and  already  she  was  a 
consummate  actress — a  perfect  type  of  the  village  coquette, 
queening  it  over  her  playmates,  tricked  out  in  what  old  finery 
she  could  lay  hands  on,  adorning  herself  with  bracelets  and 
tiaras  made  from  the  silver  paper  wrappings  of  the  chocolate. 
She  had  not  changed  a  bit  when,  later,  at  the  age  of  twenty, 
she  married  Maginot,  the  inspector  of  woods  and  forests. 
Mezieres,  a  dark,  gloomy  town,  surrounded  by  ramparts,  was 
not  to  her  taste,  and  she  continued  to  live  at  Charleville,  where 
the  gay,  generous  life,  enlivened  by  many  festivities,  suited  her 
better.  Her  father  was  dead,  and  with  a  husband  whom,  by 
reason  of  his  inferior  social  position,  her  friends  and  acquaint- 
ances treated  with  scant  courtesy,  she  was  absolutely  mistress 
of  her  own  actions.  She  did  not  escape  the  censure  of  the 
stern  moralists  who  inhabit  our  provincial  cities,  and  in  those 
days  was  credited  with  many  lovers  ;  but  of  the  gay  throng  of 
officers  who,  thanks  to  her  father's  old  connection  and  her 
kinship  to  Colonel  de  Vineuil,  disported  themselves  in  her 
drawing-room,  Captain  Beaudoin  was  the  only  one  who  had 
really  produced  an  impression.  She  was  light  and  frivolous — 
nothing  more — adoring  pleasure  and  living  entirely  in  the 
present,  without  the  least  trace  of  perverse  inclination  ;  and 
if  she  accepted  the  captain's  attentions,  it  is  pretty  certain 
that  she  d'd  it  out  of  good-nature  and  love  of  admiration. 

"  You  did  very  wrong  to  see  him  again,"  Henriette  finally 
said,  in  her  matter-of-fact  way. 

"Oh!  my  dear,  since  I  could  not  possibly  do  otherwise, 
and  it  was  only  for  just  that  once.  You  know  very  ;vell  I 
would  die  rather  than  deceive  my  new  husband." 

She  spoke  with  much  feeling,  and  seemed  distressed  to  see 
her  friend  shake  her  head  disapprovingly.  They  dropped  the 
subject,  and  clasped  each  other  in  an  affectionate  embrace, 


THE  DOWNFALL  ^33 

notwithstanding  their  diametrically  different  natures.  Each 
could  hear  the  beating  of  the  other's  heart,  and  they  might 
have  understood  the  tongues  those  organs  spoke — one,  the 
slave  of  pleasure,  wasting  and  squandering  all  that  was  best 
in  herself ;  the  other,  with  the  mute  heroism  of  a  lofty  soul_ 
devoting  herself  to  a  single  ennobling  affection. 

"  But  hark  !  how  the  cannon  are  roaring,"  Gilberte  pre^ 
ently  exclaimed.  "  I  must  make  haste  and  dress." 

The  reports  sounded  more  distinctly  in  the  silent  room  novj 
that  their  conversation  had  ceased.  Leaving  her  bed,  the 
young  woman  accepted  the  assistance  of  her  friend,  not  caring 
to  summon  her  maid,  and  rapidly  made  her  toilet  for  the  day, 
in  order  that  she  might  be  ready  to  go  downstairs  should  she 
be  needed  there.  As  she  was  completing  the  arrangement  of 
her  hair  there  was  a  knock  at  the  door,  and,  recognizing  the  voice 
of  the  elder  Madame  Delaherche,  she  hastened  to  admit  her. 

"  Certainly,  dear  mother,  you  may  come  in." 

With  the  thoughtlessness  that  was  part  of  her  nature,  she 
allowed  the  old  lady  to  enter  without  having  first  removed  the 
gauntlets  from  the  table.  It  was  in  vain  that  Henrietta  darted 
forward  to  seize  them  and  throw  them  behind  a  chair. 
Madame  Delaherche  stood  glaring  for  some  seconds  at  the 
spot  where  they  had  been  with  an  expression  on  her  face  as 
if  she  were  slowly  suffocating.  Then  her  glance  wandered  in- 
voluntarily from  object  to  object  in  the  room,  stopping  finally 
at  the  great  red-curtained  bed,  the  coverings  thrown  back  in 
disorder. 

"  I  see  that  Madame  Weiss  has  disturbed  your  slumbers. 
Then  you  were  able  to  sleep,  daughter  ?  " 

It  was  plain  that  she  had  had  another  purpose  in  coming 
there  than  to  make  that  speech.  Ah,  that  marriage  that  her 
son  had  insisted  on  contracting,  contrary  to  her  wish,  at  the 
mature  age  of  fifty,  after  twenty  years  of  joyless  married  life 
with  a  shrewish,  bony  wife  ;  he.  who  had  always  until  then  de- 
ferred so  to  her  will,  now  swayed  only  by  his  passion  for  this 
gay  young  widow,  lighter  than  thistle-down  !  She  had  prom- 
ised herself  to  keep  watch  over  the  present,  and  there  was  the 
past  coming  back  to  plague  her.  But  ought  she  to  speak  ? 
Her  life  in  the  household  was  one  of  silent  reproach  and 
protest ;  she  kept  herself  almost  constantly  imprisoned  in  her 
chamber,  devoting  herself  rigidly  to  the  observances  of  her 
austere  religion.  Now,  however,  the  wrong  was  so  flagrant 
•that  she  resolved  to  speak  to  her  son. 


234  THE  DOWNFALL 

x. 

Gilberte  blushingly  replied,  without  an  excessive  manifesta- 
tion of  embarrassment,  however  : 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  had  a  few  hours  of  refreshing  sleep.  You  know 
that  Jules  has  not  returned " 

Madame  Delaherche  interrupted  her  with  a  grave  nod  of 
er  head.  Ever  since  the  artillery  had  commenced  to  roar 
ne  had  been  watching  eagerly  for  her  son's  return,  but  she 

-is  a  Spartan  mother,  and  concealed  her  gnawing  anxiety 
,  ider  a  cloak  of  brave  silence.  And  then  she  remembered 
.  aat  was  the  object  of  her  visit  there. 

"  Your  uncle,  the  colonel,  has  sent  the  regimental  surgeon 
with  a  note  in  pencil,  to  ask  if  we  will  allow  them  to  establish 
a  hospital  here.  He  knows  that  we  have  abundance  of  space 
in  the  factory,  and  I  have  already  authorized  the  gentlemen  to 
make  use  of  the  courtyard  and  the  big  drying-room.  But  you 
should  go  down  in  person " 

"  Oh,  at  once,  at  once  !  "  exclaimed  Henriette,  hastening 
toward  the  door.  "  We  will  do  what  we  can  to  help." 

Gilberte  also  displayed  much  enthusiasm  for  her  new  occu- 
pation as  nurse  ;  she  barely  took  the  time  to  throw  a  lace  scarf 
over  her  head,  and  the  three  women  went  downstairs.  When 
they  reached  the  bottom  and  stood  in  the  spacious  vestibule, 
looking  out  through  the  main  entrance,  of  which  the  leaves 
had  been  thrown  wide  back,  they  beheld  a  crowd  collected  in 
the  street  before  the  house.  A  low-hung  carriage  was  advanc- 
ing slowly  along  the  roadway,  a  sort  of  carriole,  drawn  by  a 
single  horse,  which  a  lieutenant  of  zouaves  was  leading  by  the 
bridle.  They  took  it  to  be  a  wounded  man  that  they  were 
bringing  to  them,  the  first  of  their  patients. 

"  Yes,  yes  !     This  is  the  place  ;  this  way  !  " 

But  they  were  quickly  undeceived.  The  sufferer  recumbent 
in  the  carriole  was  Marshal  MacMahon,  severely  wounded  in 
the  hip,  who,  his  hurt  having  been  provisionally  cared  for  in 
the  cottage  of  a  gardener,  was  now  being  taken  to  the  Sous- 
Prefecture.  He  was  bareheaded  and  partially  divested  of  his 
clothing,  and  the  gold  embroidery  on  his  uniform  was  tarnished 
with  dust  and  blood.  He  spoke  no  word,  but  had  raised  his 
head  from  the  pillow  where  it  lay  and  was  looking  about  him 
with  a  sorrowful  expression,  and  perceiving  the  three  women 
where  they  stood,  wide  eyed  with  horror,  their  joined  hands 
resting  on  their  bosom,  in  presence  of  that  great  calamity, 
the  whole  army  stricken  in  the  person  of  its  chief  at  the  very 
beginning  of  the  conflict,  he  slightly  bowed  his  head,  with  a 


THE  DOWNFALL  *35 

faint,  paternal  smile.  A  few  of  those  about  him  removed  their 
hats  ;  others,  who  had  no  time  for  such  idle  ceremony,  were 
circulating  the  report  of  General  Ducrot's  appointment  to 
the  command  of  the  army.  It  was  half-past  seven  o'clock. 

"  And  what  of  the  Emperor  ? "  Henriette  inquired  of  a  book- 
seller, who  was  standing  at  his  door. 

"  He  left  the  city  near  an  hour  ago,"  replied  the  neighbor. 
"  I  was  standing  by  and  saw  him  pass  out  at  the  Balan  gate. 
There  is  a  rumor  that  his  head  was  taken  off  by  a  cannon 
ball." 

But  this  made  the  grocer  across  the  street  furious.  "  Hold 
your  tongue,"  he  shouted,  "  it  is  an  infernal  lie  !  None  but 
the  brave  will  leave  their  bones  there  to-day  !  " 

When  near  the  Place  du  College  the  marshal's  carriole  was 
lost  to  sight  in  the  gathering  crowd,  among  whose  numbers 
the  most  strange  and  contradictory  reports  from  the  field  of 
battle  were  now  beginning  to  circulate.  The  fog  was  clearing  ; 
the  streets  were  bright  with  sunshine. 

A  hail,  in  no  gentle  terms,  was  heard  proceeding  from  the 
courtyard  :  "  Now  then,  ladies,  here  is  where  you  are  wanted, 
not  outside  !  " 

They  all  three  hastened  inside  and  found  themselves  in 
presence  of  Major  Bouroche,  who  had 'thrown  his  uniform 
coat  upon  the  floor,  in  a  corner  of  the  room,  and  donned  a 
great  white  apron.  Above  the  broad  expanse  of,  as  yet,  un- 
spotted white,  his  blazing,  leonine  eyes  and  enormous  head, 
with  shock  of  harsh,  bristling  hair,  seemed  to  exhale  energy 
and  determination.  So  terrible  did  he  appear  to  them  that 
the  women  were  his  most  humble  servants  from  the  very  start, 
obedient  to  his  every  sign,  treading  on  one  another  to  antici- 
pate his  wishes. 

"  There  is  nothing  here  that  is  needed.  Get  me  some  linen  ; 
try  and  see  if  you  can't  find  some  more  mattresses ;  show  my 
men  where  the  pump  is 

And  they  ran  as  if  their  life  was  at  stake  to  do  his  bidding  ; 
were  so  active  that  they  seemed  to  be  ubiquitous. 

The  factory  was  admirably  adapted  for  a  hospital.  The 
drying-room  was  a  particularly  noticeable  feature,  a  vast  apart- 
ment with  numerous  and  lofty  windows  for  light  and  ventila- 
tion, where  they  could  put  in  a  hundred  beds  and  yet  have 
room  to  spare,  and  at  one  side  was  a  shed  that  seemed  to  have 
been  built  there  especially  for  the  convenience  of  the  opera- 
tors :  three  long  tables  had  been  brought  in,  the  pump  was 


236  TifE  DOWNFALL 

close  at  hand,  and  a  small  grass-plot  adjacent  might  serve  as 
ante-chamber  for  the  patients  while  awaiting  their  turn.  And 
the  handsome  old  elms,  with  their  deliciously  cool  shade,  roofed 
the  spot  in  most  agreeably. 

Bouroche  had  considered  it  would  be  best  to  establish  him- 
self in  Sedan  at  the  commencement,  foreseeing  the  dreadful 
slaughter  and  the  inevitable  panic  that  would  sooner  or  later 
drive  the  troops  to  the  shelter  of  the  ramparts.  All  that  he 
had  deemed  it  necessary  to  leave  with  the  regiment  was  two 
flying  ambulances  and  some  "first  aids,"  that  were  to  send 
him  in  the  casualties  as  rapidly  as  possible  after  applying  the 
primary  dressings.  The  details  of  litter-bearers  were  all  out 
there,  whose  duty  it  was  to  pick  up  the  wounded  under  fire, 
and  with  them  were  the  ambulance  wagons  &\~\&  fourgons  of  the 
medical  train.  The  two  assistant-surgeons  and  three  hospital 
stewards  whom  he  had  retained,  leaving  two  assistants  on  the 
field,  would  doubtless  be  sufficient  to  perform  what  operations 
were  necessary.  He  had  also  a  corps  of  dressers  under  him. 
But  he  was  not  gentle  in  manner  and  language,  for  all  he 
did  was  done  impulsively,  zealously,  with  all  his  heart  and 
soul. 

"  Tonnerre  de  Dieu  !  how  do  you  suppose  we  are  going  to 
distinguish  the  cases  from  one  another  when  they  begin  to 
come  in  presently  ?  Take  a  piece  of  charcoal  and  number 
each  bed  with  a  big  figure  on  the  wall  overhead,  and  place 
those  mattresses  closer  together,  do  you  hear?  We  can 
strew  some  straw  on  the  floor  in  that  corner  if  it  becomes 
necessary." 

The  guns  were  barking,  preparing  his  work  for  him  ;  he 
knew  that  at  any  moment  now  the  first  carriage  might  drive 
up  and  discharge  its  load  of  maimed  and  bleeding  flesh,  and 
he  hastened  to  get  all  in  readiness  in  the  great,  bare  room. 
Outside  in  the  shed  the  preparations  were  of  another  nature  : 
the  chests  were  opened  and  their  contents  arranged  in  order 
on  a  table,  packages  of  lint,  bandages,  compresses,  rollers, 
splints  for  fractured  limbs,  while  on  another  table,  alongside  a 
great  jar  of  cerate  and  a  bottle  of  chloroform,  were  the  sur- 
gical cases  with  their  blood-curdling  array  of  glittering  instru- 
ments, probes,  forceps,  bistouries,  scalpels,  scissors,  saws,  an 
arsenal  of  implements  of  every  imaginable  shape  adapted  to 
pierce,  cut,  slice,  rend,  crush.  But  there  was  a  deficient  supply 
of  basins. 

"  You  must  have  pails,  pots,  jars  about  the  house — some- 


THE  DOWNFALL  23? 

thing  that  will  hold  water.  We  can't  work  besmeared  with 
blood  all  day,  that's  certain.  And  sponges,  try  to  get  me 
some  sponges." 

Madame  Delaherche  hurried  away  and  returned,  followed  by 
three  women  bearing  a  supply  of  the  desired  vessels.  Gil- 
berte,  standing  by  the  table  where  the  instruments  were  laid 
out,  summoned  Henriette  to  her  side  by  a  look  and  pointed  to 
them  with  a  little  shudder.  They  grasped  each  other's  hand 
and  stood  for  a  moment  without  speaking,  but  their  mute  clasp 
was  eloquent  of  the  solemn  feeling  of  terror  and  pity  that  filled 
both  their  souls.  And  yet  there  was  a  difference,  for  one 
retained,  even  in  her  distress,  the  involuntary  smile  of  her 
bright  youth,  while  in  the  eyes  of  the  other,  pale  as  death,  was 
the  grave  earnestness  of  the  heart  which,  one  love  lost,  can 
never  love  again. 

"  How  terrible  it  must  be,  dear,  to  have  an  arm  or  leg  cut 
off !  " 

"  Poor  fellows  !  " 

Bouroche  had  just  finished  placing  a  mattress  on  each  of 
the  three  tables,  covering  them  carefully  with  oil-cloth,  when 
the  sound  of  horses'  hoofs  was  heard  outside  and  the  first  am- 
bulance wagon  rolled  into  the  court.  There  were  ten  men  in 
it,  seated  on  the  lateral  benches,  only  slightly  wounded,  two 
or  three  of  them  carrying  their  arm  in  a  sling,  but  the  majority 
hurt  about  the  head.  They  alighted  with  but  little  assistance, 
and  the  inspection  of  their  cases  commenced  forthwith. 

One  of  them,  scarcely  more  than  a  boy,  had  been  shot 
through  the  shoulder,  and  as  Henriette  was  tenderly  assisting 
him  to  draw  off  his  greatcoat,  an  operation  that  elicited  cries 
of  pain,  she  took  notice  of  the  number  of  his  regiment. 

"  Why,  you  belong  to  the  io6th  !  Are  you  in  Captain  Beau- 
doin's  company  ? " 

No,  he  belonged  to  Captain  Bonnaud's  company,  but  for 
all  that  he  was  well  acquainted  with  Corporal  Macquart  and 
felt  pretty  certain  that  his  squad  had  not  been  under  fire  as 
yet.  The  tidings,  meager  as  they  were,  sufficed  to  remove  a 
great  load  from  the  young  woman's  heart  :  her  brother  was 
"alive  and  well  ;  if  now  her  husband  would  only  return,  as  she 
was  expecting  every  moment  he  would  do,  her  mind  would  be 
quite  at  rest. 

At  that  moment,  just  as  Henriette  raised  her  head  to  listen 
to  the  cannonade,  which  was  then  roaring  with  increased 
viciousness,  she  was  thunderstruck  to  see  Delaherche  stand- 


*38  THE  DOWNFALL 

ing  only  a  few  steps  away  in  the  middle  of  a  group  of  men,  to 
whom  he  was  telling  the  story  of  the  frightful  dangers  he  had 
encountered  in  getting  from  Bazeilles  to  Sedan.  How  did  he 
happen  to  be  there  ?  She  had  not  seen  him  come  in.  She 
darted  toward  him. 

"  Is  not  my  husband  with  you  ? " 

But  Delaherche,  who  was  just  then  replying  to  the  fond 
questions  of  his  wife  and  mother,  was  in  no  haste  to  answer. 

"  Wait,  wait  a  moment."  And  resuming  his  narrative  : 
"  Twenty  times  between  Bazeilles  and  Balan  I  just  missed 
being  killed.  It  was  a  storm,  a  regular  hurricane,  of  shot  and 
shell !  And  I  saw  the  Emperor,  too.  Oh  !  but  he  is  a  brave 
man  ! And  after  leaving  Balan  I  ran " 

Henriette  shook  him  by  the  arm. 

"  My  husband  ?  " 

"  Weiss  ?  why,  he  stayed  behind  there,  Weiss  did." 

"  What  do  you  mean,  behind  there  ?  " 

"  Why,  yes  ;  he  picked  up  the  musket  of  a  dead  soldier,  and 
is  fighting  away  with  the  best  of  them." 

"  He  is  fighting,  you  say  ?- and  why  ?" 

"  He  must  be  out  of  his  head,  I  think.  He  would  not  come 
with  me,  and  of  course  I  had  to  leave  him." 

Henriette  gazed  at  him  fixedly,  with  wide-dilated  eyes. 
For  a  moment  no  one  spoke  ;  then  in  a  calm  voice  she  de- 
clared her  resolution. 

"  It  is  well  ;  I  will  go  to  him." 

What,  she,  go  to  him  ?  But  it  was  impossible,  it  was  pre- 
posterous !  Delaherche  had  more  to  say  of  his  hurricane  of 
shot  and  shell.  Gilberte  seized  her  by  the  wrists  to  detain 
her,  while  Madame  Delaherche  used  all  her  persuasive  powers 
to  convince  her  of  the  folly  of  the  mad  undertaking.  In  the 
same  gentle,  determined  tone  she  repeated  : 
'  It  is  useless  ;  I  will  go  to  him." 

She  would  only  wait  to  adjust  upon  her  head  the  lace  scarf 
that  Gilberte  had  been  wearing  and  which  the  latter  insisted 
she  should  accept.  In  the  hope  that  his  offer  might  cause  her 
to  abandon  her  resolve  Delaherche  declared  that  he  would  go 
with  her  at  least  as  far  as  the  Balan  gate,  but  just  then  he  caught 
sight  of  the  sentry,  who,  in  all  the  turmoil  and  confusion  of 
the  time,  had  been  pacing  uninterruptedly  up  and  down 
before  the  building  that  contained  the  treasure  chests  of  the 
7th  corps,  and  suddenly  he  remembered,  was  alarmed,  went  to 
give  a  look  and  assure  himself  that  the  millions  were  there 


THE  DOWNFALL  239 

still.  In  the  meantime  Henriette  had  reached  the  portico  and 
was  about  to  pass  out  into  the  street. 

"  Wait  for  me,  won't  you  ?  Upon  my  word,  you  are  as  mad 
as  your  husband  !  " 

Another  ambulance  had  driven  up,  moreover,  and  they  had 
to  wait  to  let  it  pass  in.  It  was  smaller  than  the  other,  having 
but  two  wheels,  and  the  two  men  whom  it  contained,  both  se- 
verely wounded,  rested  on  stretchers  placed  upon  the  floor. 
The  first  one  whom,  the  attendants  took  out,  using  the  most 
tender  precaution,  had  one  hand  broken  and  his  side  torn  by 
a  splinter  of  shell  ;  he  was  a  mass  of  bleeding  flesh.  The 
second  had  his  left  leg  shattered  ;  and  Bouroche,  giving 
orders  to  extend  the  latter  on  one  of  the  oil-cloth-covered  mat- 
tresses, proceeded  forthwith  to  operate  on  him,  surrounded  by 
the  staring,  pushing  crowd  of  dressers  and  assistants.  Madame 
Delaherche  and  Gilberte  were  seated  near  the  grass-plot,  em- 
ployed in  rolling  bandages. 

In  the  street  outside  Delaherche  had  caught  up  with  Henri- 
ette. 

"  Come,  my  dear  Madame  Weiss,  abandon  this  foolhardy 
undertaking.  How  can  you  expect  to  find  Weiss  in  all  that 
confusion  ?  Most  likely  he  is  no  longer  there  by  this  time  ; 
he  is  probably  making  his  way  home  through  the  fields.  I 
assure  you  that  Bazeilles  is  inaccessible." 

But  she  did  not  even  listen  to  him,  only  increasing  her 
speed,  and  had  now  entered  the  Rue  de  Menil,  her  shortest 
way  to  the  Balan  gate.  It  was  nearly  nine  o'clock,  and  Sedan 
no  longer  wore  the  forbidding,  funereal  aspect  of  the  morning, 
when  it  awoke  to  grope  and  shudder  amid  the  despair  and 
gloom  of  its  black  fog.  The  shadows  of  the  houses  were 
sharply  defined  upon  the  pavement  in  the  bright  sunlight,  the 
streets  were  filled  with  an  excited,  anxious  throng,  through 
which  orderlies  and  staff  officers  were  constantly  pushing  their 
way  at  a  gallop.  The  chief  centers  of  attraction  were  the 
straggling  soldiers  who,  even  at  this  early  hour  of  the  day,  had 
begun  to  stream  into  the  city,  minus  arms  and  equipments, 
some  of  them  slightly  wounded,  others  in  an  extreme  condi- 
tion of  nervous  excitation,  shouting  and  gesticulating  like 
lunatics.  And  yet  the  place  would  have  had  very  much  its 
every-day  aspect,  had  it  not  been  for  the  tight-closed  shutters 
of  the  shops,  the  lifeless  house-fronts,  where  not  a  blind  was 
open.  Then  there  was  the  cannonade,  that  never-ceasing 
cannonade,  beneath  which  earth  and  rocks,  walls  and  founda- 


24°  THE  DOWNFALL 

tions,  even  to  the  very  slates  upon  the  roofs,  shook  and 
trembled. 

What  between  the  damage  that  his  reputation  as  a  man  of 
bravery  and  politeness  would  inevitably  suffer  should  he  de- 
sert Henriette  in  her  time  of  trouble,  and  his  disinclination  to 
again  face  the  iron  hail  on  the  Bazeilles  road,  Delaherche  was 
certainly  in  a  very  unpleasant  predicament.  Just  as  they 
reached  the  Balan  gate  a  bevy  of  mounted  officers,  returning 
to  the  city,  suddenly  came  riding  up,  and  they  were  parted. 
There  was  a  dense  crowd  of  people  around  the  gate,  waiting 
for  news.  It  was  all  in  vain  that  he  ran  this  way  and  that, 
looking  for  the  young  woman  in  the  throng  ;  she  must  have 
been  beyond  the  walls  by  that  time,  speeding  along  the  road, 
and  pocketing  his  gallantry  for  use  on  some  future  occasion, 
he  said  to  himself  aloud  : 

"  Very  well,  so  much  the  worse  for  her  ;  it  was  too  idiotic." 

Then  the  manufacturer  strolled  about  the  city,  bourgeois- 
like  desirous  to  lose  no  portion  of  the  spectacle,  and  at  the 
same  time  tormented  by  a  constantly  increasing  feeling  of 
anxiety.  How  was  it  all  to  end  ?  and  would  not  the  city  suffer 
heavily  should  the  army  be  defeated  ?  The  questions  were 
hard  ones  to  answer  ;  he  could  not  give  a  satisfactory  solution 
to  the  conundrum  when  so  much  depended  on  circumstances, 
but  none  the  less  he  was  beginning  to  feel  very  uneasy  for  his 
factory  and  house  in  the  Rue  Maqua,  whence  he  had  already 
taken  the  precaution  to  remove  his  securities  and  valuables  and 
bury  them  in  a  place  of  safety.  He  dropped  in  at  the  Hotel 
de  Ville,  found  the  Municipal  Council  sitting  in  permanent 
session,  and  loitered  away  a  couple  of  hours  there  without 
hearing  any  fresh  news,  unless  that  affairs  outside  the  walls 
were  beginning  to  look  very  threatening.  The  army,  under 
the  pushing  and  hauling  process,  pushed  back  to  the  rear  by 
General  Ducrot  during  the  hour  and  a  half  while  the  command 
was  in  his  hands,  hauled  forward  to  the  front  again  by  de 
Wimpffen,  his  successor,  knew  not  where  to  yield  obedience, 
and  the  entire  lack  of  plan  and  competent  leadership,  the  in- 
comprehensible vacillation,  the  abandonment  of  positions  only 
to  retake  them  again  at  terrible  cost  of  life,  all  these  things 
could  not  fail  to  end  in  ruin  and  disaster. 

From  there  Delaherche  pushed  forward  to  the  Sous-Pre- 
fecture to  ascertain  whether  the  Emperor  had  returned  yet 
from  the  field  of  battle.  The  only  tidings  he  gleaned  here 
were  of  Marshal  MacMahon,  who  was  said  to  be  resting  com- 


THE  DOWNFALL    .  241 

fortably,  his  wound,  which  was  not  dangerous,  having  been 
dressed  by  a  surgeon.  About  eleven  o'clock,  however,  as  he 
was  again  going  the  rounds,  his  progress  was  arrested  for  a 
moment  in  the  Grande-Rue,  opposite  the  Hotel  de  1'Europe, 
by  a  sorry  cavalcade  of  dust-stained  horsemen,  whose  jaded 
nags  were  moving  at  a  walk,  and  at  their  head  he  recognized 
the  Emperor,  who  was  returning  after  having  spent  four  hours 
on  the  battle-field.  It  was  plain  that  death  would  have  noth- 
ing to  do  with  him.  The  big  drops  of  anguish  had  washed 
the  rouge  from  off  those  painted  cheeks,  the  waxed  mustache 
had  lost  its  stiffness  and  drooped  over  the  mouth,  and  in  that 
ashen  face,  in  those  dim  eyes,  was  the  stupor  of  one  in  his  last 
agony.  One  of  the  officers  alighted  in  front  of  the  hotel  and 
proceeded  to  give  some  friends,  who  were  collected  there,  an 
account  of  their  route,  from  la  Moncelle  to  Givonne,  up  the 
entire  length  of  the  little  valley  among  the  soldiers  of  the  ist 
corps,  who  had  already  been  pressed  back  by  the  Saxons 
across  the  little  stream  to  the  right  bank  ;  and  they  had  re- 
turned by  the  sunken  road  of  the  Fond  de  Givonne,  which  was 
even  then  in  such  an  encumbered  condition  that  had  the  Em- 
peror desired  to  make  his  way  to  the  front  again  he  would 
have  found  the  greatest  difficulty  in  doing  so.  Besides,  what 
would  it  have  availed  ? 

As  Delaherche  was  drinking  in  these  particulars  with  greedy 
ears  a  loud  explosion  shook  the  quarter.  It  was  a  shell,  which 
had  demolished  a  chimney  in  the  Rue  Sainte-Barbe,  near  the 
citadel.  There  was  a  general  rush  and  scramble  ;  men  swore 
and  women  shrieked.  He  had  flattened  himself  against  the 
wall,  when  another  explosion  broke  the  windows  in  a  house  not 
far  away.  The  consequences  would  be  dreadful  if  they  should 
shell  Sedan  ;  he  made  his  way  back  to  the  Rue  Maqua  on  a  keen 
run,  and  was  seized  by  such  an  imperious  desire  to  learn  the 
truth  that  he  did  not  pause  below  stairs,  but  hurried  to  the 
roof,  where  there  was  a  terrace  that  commanded  a  view  of  the 
city  and  its  environs. 

A  glance  at  the  situation  served  to  reassure  him  ;  the  Ger- 
man fire  was  not  directed  against  the  city  ;  the  batteries  at 
Frenois  and  la  Marfee  were  shelling  the  Plateau  de  1'Algerie 
over  the  roofs  of  the  houses,  and  now  that  his  alarm  had  sub- 
sided he  could  even  watch  with  a  certain  degree  of  admira- 
tion the  flight  of  the  projectiles  as  they  sailed  over  Sedan  in  a 
wide,  majestic  curve,  leaving  behind  them  a  faint  trail  of 
smoke  upon  the  air?  like  gigantic  birds,  invisible  to  mortal  eye 


*4*  THE   DOWNFALL 

and  to  be  traced  only  by  the  gray  plumage  shed  by  their  pin- 
ions. At  first  it  seemed  to  him  quite  evident  that  what  damage 
had  been  done  so  far  was  the  result  of  random  practice  by  the 
Prussian  gunners  :  they  were  not  bombarding  the  city  yet  ; 
then,  upon  further  consideration,  he  was  of  opinion  that  their 
firing  was  intended  as  a  response  to  the  ineffectual  fire  of  the 
few  guns  mounted  on  the  fortifications  of  the  place.  Turning 
to  the  north  he  looked  down  from  his  position  upon  the  ex- 
tended and  complex  system  of  defenses  of  the  citadel,  the  frown- 
ing curtains  black  with  age,  the  green  expanses  of  the  turfed 
glacis,  the  stern  bastions  that  reared  their  heads  at  geomet- 
rically accurate  angles,  prominent  among  them  the  three  cyclo- 
pean  salients,  the  Ecossais,  the  Grand  Jardin,  and  laRochette, 
while  further  to  the  west,  in  extension  of  the  line,  were  Fort 
Nassau  and  Fort  Palatinat,  above  the  faubourg  of  Menil.  The 
sight  produced  in  him  a  melancholy  impression  of  immensity 
and  futility.  Of  what  avail  were  they  now  against  the  power- 
ful modern  guns  with  their  immense  range  ?  Besides,  the 
works  were  not  manned  ;  cannon,  ammunition,  men  were  want- 
ing. Some  three  weeks  previously  the  governor  had  invited 
the  citizens  to  organize  and  form  a  National  Guard,  and  these 
volunteers  were  now  doing  duty  as  gunners  ;  and  thus  it  was 
that  there  were  three  guns  in  service  at  Palatinat,  while  at  the 
Porte  de  Paris  there  may  have  been  a  half  dozen.  As  they  had 
only  seven  or  eight  rounds  to  each  gun,  however,  the  men  hus- 
banded their  ammunition,  limiting  themselves  to  a  shot  every 
half  hour,  and  that  only  as  a  sort  of  salve  to  their  self-respect, 
for  none  of  their  missiles  reached  the  enemy :  all  were  lost  in 
the  meadows  opposite  them.  Hence  the  enemy's  batteries, 
disdainful  of  such  small  game,  contemptuously  pitched  a  shell 
at  them  from  time  to  time,  out  of  charity,  as  it  were. 

Those  batteries  over  across  the  river  were  objects  of  great 
interest  to  Delaherche.  He  was  eagerly  scanning  the  heights 
of  la  Marfee  with  his  naked  eye,  when  all  at  once  he  thought 
of  the  spy-glass  with  which  he  sometimes  amused  himself  by 
watching  the  doings  of  his  neighbors  from  the  terrace.  He 
ran  downstairs  and  got  it,  returned  and  placed  it  in  position, 
and  as  he  was  slowly  sweeping  the  horizon  and  trees,  fields, 
houses  came  within  his  range  of  vision,  he  lighted  on  that 
group  of  uniforms,  at  the  angle  of  a  pine  wood,  over  the  main 
battery  at  Frenois,  of  which  Weiss  had  caught  a  glimpse  from 
Bazeilles.  To  him,  however,  thanks  to  the  excellence  of  his 
glass,  it  would  have  been  no  difficult  matter  to  count  the  num 


THE  DOWNFALL  243 

her  of  officers  of  the  staff,  so  distinctly  he  made  them  out. 
Some  of  them  were  reclining  carelessly  on  the  grass,  others 
were  conversing  in  little  groups,  and  in  front  of  them  all  stood 
a  solitary  figure,  a  spare,  well-proportioned  man  to  appearances, 
in  an  unostentatious  uniform,  who  yet  asserted  in  some  indefin- 
able-way  his  masterhood.  It  was  the  Prussian  King,  scarce 
half  finger  high,  one  of  those  miniature  leaden  toys  that  afford 
children  such  delight.  Although  he  was  not  certain  of  this 
identity  until  later  on  the  manufacturer  found  himself,  by 
reason  of  some  inexplicable  attraction,  constantly  returning  to 
that  diminutive  puppet,  whose  face,  scarce  larger  than  a  pin's 
head,  was  but  a  pale  point  against  the  immense  blue  sky. 

It  was  not  midday  yet,  and  since  nine  o'clock  the  master 
had  been  watching  the  movements,  inexorable  as  fate,  of  his 
armies.  Onward,  ever  onward,  they  swept,  by  roads  traced 
for  them  in  advance,  completing  the  circle,  slowly  but  surely 
closing  in  and  enveloping  Sedan  in  their  living  wall  of  men 
and  guns.  The  army  on  his  left,  that  had  come  up  across  the 
level  plain  of  Donchery,  was  debouching  still  from  the  pass  of 
Saint- Albert  and,  leaving  Saint-Menges  in  its  rear,  was  begin- 
ning to  show  its  heads  of  columns  at  Fleigneux  ;  and,  in  the  rear 
of  the  Xlth  corps,  then  sharply  engaged  with  General  Douay's 
force,  he  could  discern  the  Vth  corps,  availing  itself  of  the  shel- 
ter of  the  woods  and  advancing  stealthily  on  Illy,  while  battery 
upon  battery  came  wheeling  into  position,  an  ever-lengthening 
line  of  thundering  guns,  until  the  horizon  was  an  unbroken 
ring  of  fire.  On  the  right  the  army  was  now  in  undisputed 
possession  of  the  valley  of  the  Givonne  ;  the  XUth  corps  had 
taken  la  Moncelle,  the  Guards  had  forced  the  passage  of  the 
stream  at  Daigny,  compelling  General  Ducrot  to  seek  the  pro- 
tection of  the  wood  of 'la  Garenne,  and  were  pushing  up  the 
right  bank,  likewise  in  full  march  upon  the  plateau  of  Illy. 
Their  task  was  almost  done  ;  one  effort  more,  and  up  there  at 
the  north,  among  those  barren  fields,  on  the  very  verge  of  the 
dark  forests  of  the  Ardennes,  the  Crown  Prince  of  Prussia 
would  join  hands  with  the  Crown  Prince  of  Saxony.  To  the 
south  of  Sedan  the  village  of  'Bazeilles  was  lost  to  sight  in  the 
dense  smoke  of  its  burning  houses,  in  the  clouds  of  dun  vapor 
that  rose  above  the  furious  conflict. 

And  tranquilly,  ever  since  the  morning,  the  King  had  been 
watching  and  waiting.  An  hour  yet,  two  hours,  it  might  be 
three,  it  mattered  not  ;  it  was  only  a  question  of  time.  Wheel 
and  pinion,  cog  and  lever,  were  working  in  harmony,  the 


244  THE  DOWNFALL 

great  engine  of  destruction  was  in  motion,  and  soon  would 
have  run  its  course.  In  the  center  of  the  immense  horizon, 
beneath  the  deep  vault  of  sunlit  sky,  the  bounds  of  the  battle- 
field were  ever  becoming  narrower,  the  black  swarms  were 
converging,  closing  in  on  doomed  Sedan.  There  were  fiery 
reflexions  in  the  windows  of  the  city  ;  to  the  left,  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Faubourg  de  la  Cassine,  it  seemed  as  if  a  house 
was  burning.  And  outside  the  circle  of  flame  and  smoke,  in 
the  fields  no  longer  trodden  by  armed  men,  over  by  Donchery, 
over  by  Carignan,  peace,  warm  and  luminous,  lay  upon  the 
land  ;  the  bright  waters  of  the  Meuse,  the  lusty  trees  rejoicing 
in  their  strength,  the  broad,  verdant  meadows,  the  fertile, 
well-kept  farms,  all  rested  peacefully  beneath  the  fervid  noon- 
day sun. 

Turning  to  his  staff,  the  King  briefly  called  for  informa- 
tion upon  some  point.  It  was  the  royal  will  to  direct  each 
move  on  the  gigantic  chessboard  ;  to  hold  in  the  hollow  of 
his  hand  the  hosts  who  looked  to  him  for  guidance.  At  his 
left,  a  flock  of  swallows,  affrighted  by  the  noise  of  the  cannon- 
ade, rose  high  in  air,  wheeled,  and  vanished  in  the  south. 


IV. 

BETWEEN  the  city  and  Balan,  Henrietta  got  over  the 
£)  ground  at  a  good,  round  pace.  It  was  not  yet  nine  o'clock; 
the  broad  footpath,  bordered  by  gardens  and  pretty  cottages, 
was  as  yet  comparatively  free,  although  as  she  approached  th& 
village  it  began  to  be  more  and  more  obstructed  by  flying  citi- 
zens and  moving  troops.  When  she  saw  a  great  surge  of  the 
human  tide  advancing  on  her  she  hugged  the  walls  and 
house-fronts,  and  by  dint  of  address  and  perseverance  slipped 
through,  somehow.  The  fold  of  black  lace  that  half  concealed 
her  fair  hair  and  small,  pale  face,  the  sober  gown  that  envel- 
oped her  slight  form,  made  her  an  inconspicuous  object  among 
the  throng  ;  she  went  her  way  unnoticed  by  the  by-passers, 
and  nothing  retarded  her  light,  silent  steps. 

At  Balan,  however,  she  found  the  road  blocked  by  a  regi- 
ment of  infanterie  de  marine.  It  was  a  compact  mass  of  men, 
drawn  up  under  the  tall  trees  that  concealed  them  from  the 
enemy's  observation,  awaiting  orders.  She  raised  herself  on 
tiptoe,  and  could  not  see  the  end  ;  still,  she  made  herself  as 
small  as  she  could  and  attempted  to  worm  her  way  through. 


THE   DOWNFALL  245 

The  men  shoved  her  with  their  elbows,  and  the  butts  of  their 
muskets  made  acquaintance  with  her  ribs  ;  when  .she  had  ad- 
vanced a  dozen  paces  there  was  a  chorus  of  shouts  and  angry 
protests.  A  captain  turned  on  her  and  roughly  cried  : 

"  Hi,  there,  you  woman  !  are  you  crazy  ?  Where  are  you 
going  ?  " 

"  I  am  going  to  Bazeilles." 

"  What,  to  Bazeilles?" 

There  was  a  shout  of  laughter.  The  soldiers  pointed  at 
her  with  their  fingers  ;  she  was  the  object  of  their  witticisms. 
The  captain,  also,  greatly  amused  by  the  incident,  had  to  have 
his  joke. 

"  You  should  take  us  along  with  you,  my  little  dear,  if  you 
are  going  to  Bazeilles.  We  were  there  a  short  while  ago,  and 
I  am  in  hope  that  we  shall  go  back  there,  but  I  can  tell 
you  that  the  temperature  of  the  place  is  none  too  cool." 

"  I  am  going  to  Bazeilles  to  look  for  my  husband,"  Henri- 
ette  declared,  in  her  gentle  voice,  while  her  blue  eyes  shone 
with  undiminished  resolution. 

The  laughter  ceased  ;  an  old  sergeant  extricated  her  from 
the  crowd  that  had  collected  around  her,  and  forced  her  to 
retrace  her  steps. 

"  My  poor  child,  you  see  it  is  impossible  to  get  through. 
Bazeilles  is  no  place  for  you.  You  will  find  your  husband  by 
and  by.  Come,  listen  to  reason  !  " 

She  had  to  obey,  and  stood  aside  beneath  the  trees,  raising 
herself  on  her  toes  at  every  moment  to  peer  before  her,  finii 
in  her  resolve  to  continue  her  journey  as  soon  as  she  should  be 
allowed  to  pass.  She  learned  the  condition  of  affairs  from  the 
conversation  that  went  on  around  her.  Some  officers  were 
criticising  with  great  acerbity  the  order  for  the  abandonment 
of  Bazeilles,  which  had  occurred  at  a  quarter-past  eight,  at  the 
time  when  General  Dncrot,  taking  over  the  command  from  the 
marshal,  had  considered  it  best  to  concentrate  the  troops  on 
the  plateau  of  Illy.  What  made  matters  worse  was,  tha.t  the 
valley  of  the  Givonne  having  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Ger- 
mans through  the  premature  retirement  of  t  the  ist  corps,  the 
12th  corps,  which  was  even  then  sustaining  a  vigorous  attack 
in  front,  was  overlapped  on  its  left  flank.  Now  that  General 
de  WimprTen  had  relieved  General  Ducrot,  it  seemed -that  the 
original  plan  was  to  be  carried  out.  Orders  had  been  received 
to  retake  Bazeilles  at  every  cost,  and  drive  the  Bavarians  into 
the  Meuse.  And  so,  in  the  ranks  of  that  regiment  that  had 


246  THE  DOWNFALL 

been  halted  there  in  full  retreat  at  the  entrance  of  the  village 
and  ordered  to  resume  the  offensive,  there  was  much  bitter 
feeling,  and  angry  words  were  rife.  Was  ever  such  stupidity 
heard  of?  to  make  them  abandon  a  position,  and  immediately 
tell  them  to  turn  round  and  retake  it  from  the  enemy  !  They 
were  willing  enough  to  risk  their  life  in  the  cause,  but  no  one 
cared  to  throw  it  away  for  nothing  ! 

A  body  of  mounted  men  dashed  up  the  street  and  General 
de  Wimpffen  appeared  among  them,  and  raising  himself  erect 
on  his  stirrups,  with  flashing  eyes,  he  shouted,  in  ringing 
tones : 

"  Friends,  we  cannot  retreat ;  it  would  be  ruin  to  us  all. 
And  if  we  do  have  to  retreat,  it  shall  be  on  Carignan,  and  not 
on  Mezieres.  But  we  shall  be  victorious !  You  beat  the  enemy 
this  morning  ;  you  will  beat  them  again  ! " 

He  galloped  off  on  a  road  that  conducted  to  la  Moncelle. 
It  was  said  that  there  had  been  a  violent  altercation  between 
him  and  General  Ducrot,  each  upholding  his  own  plan,  and 
decrying  the  plan  of  the  other — one  asserting  that  retreat  by 
way  of  Mezieres  had  been  impracticable  all  that  morning  ;  the 
other  predicting  that,  unless  they  fell  back  on  Illy,  the  army 
would  be  surrounded  before  night.  And  there  was  a  great 
deal  of  bitter  recrimination,  each  taxing  the  other  with  ignor- 
ance of  the  country  and  of  the  situation  of  the  troops.  The 
pity  of  it  was  that  both  were  right. 

But  Henriette,  meantime,  had  made  an  encounter  that  caused 
her  to  forget  her  project  for  a  moment.  In  some  poor  outcasts 
stranded  by  the  wayside,  she  had  recognized  a  family  of  honest 
weavers  from  Bazeilles,  father,  mother,  and  three  little  girls,  of 
whom  the  largest  was  only  nine  years  old.  They  were  utterly- 
disheartened  and  forlorn,  and  so  weary  and  footsore  that  they 
could  go  no  further,  and  had  thrown  themselves  down  at  the 
foot  of  a  wall. 

"  Alas !  dear  lady,"  the  wife  and  mother  said  to  Henriette 
"  we  have  lost  our  all.  Our  house — you  know  where  our  house 
stood  on  the  Place  de  l'£glise — well,  a  shell  came  and  burned 
it.  Why  we  and  the  children  did  not  stay  and  share  its  fate  I 
do  not  know " 

At  these  words  the  three  little  ones  began  to  cry  and  sob 
afresh,  while  the  mother,  in  distracted  language,  gave  further 
details  of  the  catastrophe 

"  The  loom,  I  saw  it  burn  like  seasoned  kindling  wood,  and 
the  bed,  the  chairs  and  tables,  they  blazed  like  so  much  straw 


THE  DOWNFALL  247 

And  even  the  clock — yes,  the  poor  old  clock  that  I  tried  to 
save  and  could  not." 

"  My  God  !  my  God  !  "  the  man  exclaimed,  his  eyes  swim- 
ming with'  tears,  "  what  is  to  become  of  us  ?  " 

Henriette  endeavored  to  comfort  them,  but  it  was  in  a  voice 
that  quavered  strangely. 

"  You  have  been  preserved  to  each  other,  you  are  safe  and 
unharmed  ;  your  three  little  girls  are  left  you.  What  reason 
have  you  to  complain  ?  " 

Then  she  proceeded  to  question  them  to  learn  how  matters 
stood  in  Bazeilles,  whether  they  had  seen  her  husband,  in  what 
state  they  had  left  her  house,  but  in  their  half-dazed  condition 
they  gave  conflicting  answers.  No,  they  had  not  seen  M. 
Weiss.  One  of  the  little  girls,  however,  declared  that  she  had 
seen  him,  and  that  he  was  lying  on  the  ground  with  a  great 
hole  in  his  head,  whereon  the  father  gave  her  a  box  on  the  ear, 
bidding  her  hold  her  tongue  and  not  tell  such  lies  to  the  lady. 
As  for  the  house,  they  could  say  with  certainty  that  it  was 
intact  at  the  time  of  their  flight  ;  they  even  remembered  to 
have  observed,  as  they  passed  it,  that  the  doors  and  windows 
were  tightly  secured,  as  if  it  was  quite  deserted.  At  that  time, 
moreover,  the  only  foothold  that  the^  Bavarians  had  secured 
for  themselves  was  in  the  Place  de  1'Eglise,  and  to  carry  the 
village  they  would  have  to  fight  for  it,  street  by  street,  house 
by  house.  They  must  have  been  gaining  ground  since  then, 
though  ;  all  Bazeilles  was  in  flames  by  that  time,  like  enough, 
and  not  a  wall  left  standing,  thanks  to  the  fierceness  of  the 
assailants  and  the  resolution  of  the  defenders.  And  so  the 
poor  creatures  went  on,  with  trembling,  affrighted  gestures, 
evoking  the  horrid  sights  their  eyes  had  seen  and  telling  their 
dreadful  tale  of  slaughter  and  conflagration  and  corpses  lying 
in  heaps  upon  the  ground. 

"  But  my  husband  ?  "  Henriette  asked  again. 

They  made  no  answer,  only  continued  to  cover  their  face 
with  their  hands  and  sob.  Her  cruel  anxiety,  as  she  stood 
there  erect,  with  no  outward  sign  of  weakness,  was  only  evinced 
by  a  slight  quivering  of  the  lips.  What  was  she  to  believe  ? 
Vainly  she  told  herself  the  child  was  mistaken  ;  her  mental 
vision  pictured  her  husband  lying  there  dead  before  her  in  the 
street  with  a  bullet  wound  in  the  head.  Again,  that  house, 
so  securely  locked  and  bolted,  was  another  source  of  alarm  ;, 
why  was  it  so  ?  was  he  no'  longer  in  it  ?  The  conviction  that 
he  was  dead  sent  an  icy  chill  to  her  heart ;  but  perhaps  he  was 


248  THE   DOWNFALL 

only  wounded,  perhaps  he  was  breathing  still  ;  and  so  sudden 
and  imperious  was  the  need  she  felt  of  flying  to  his  side  that 
she  would  again  have  attempted  to  force  her  passage  through 
the  troops  had  not  the  bugles  just  then  sounded  the  order  for 
them  to  advance. 

The  regiment  was  largely  composed  of  raw,  half-drilled 
recruits  from  Toulon,  Brest,  and  Rochefort,  men  who  had 
never  fired  a  shot,  but  all  that  morning  they  had  fought  with 
a  bravery  and  firmness  that  would  not  have  disgraced  veteran 
troops.  They  had  not  shown  much  aptitude  for  marching  on 
the  road  from  Rheims  to  Mouzon,  weighted  as  they  were  with 
their  unaccustomed  burdens,  but  when  they  came  to  face  the 
enemy  their  discipline  and  sense  of  duty  made  themselves  felt, 
and  notwithstanding  the  righteous  anger  that  was  in  their 
hearts,  the  bugle  had  but  to  sound  and  they  returned  to 
brave  the  fire  and  encounter  the  foe.  Three  several  times  they 
had  been  promised  a  division  to  support  them  ;  it  never  came. 
They  felt  that  they  were  deserted,  sacrificed  ;  it  was  the  offer- 
ing of  their  life  that  was  demanded  of  them  by  those  who, 
having  first  made  them  evacuate  the  place,  were  now  sending 
them  back  into  the  fiery  furnace  of  Bazeilles.  And  they  knew 
it,  and  they  gave  their  life,  freely,  without  a  murmur,  closing 
up  their  ranks  and  leaving  the  shelter  of  the  trees  to  meet 
afresh  the  storm  of  shell  and  bullets. 

Henriette  gave  a  deep  sigh  of  relief  ;  at  last  they  were  about 
to  move  !  She  followed  them,  with  the  hope  that  she  might 
enter  the  village  unperceived  in  their  rear,  prepared  to  run 
with  them  should  they  take  the  double-quick.  But  they  had 
scarcely  begun  to  move  when  they  came  to  a  halt  again.  The 
projectiles  were  now  falling  thick  and  fast  ;  to  regain  posses- 
sion of  Bazeilles  it  would  be  necessary  to  dispute  every  inch 
of  the  road,  occupying  the  cross-streets,  the  houses  and  gar- 
dens on  either  side  of  the  way.  A  brisk  fire  of  musketry 
proceeded  from  the  head  of  the  column,  the  advance  was 
irregular,  by  fits  and  starts,  every  petty  obstacle  entailed  a 
delay  of  many  minutes.  "She  felt  that  she  would  never  attain 
her  end  by  remaining  there  at  the  rear  of  the  column,  waiting 
for  it  to  fight  its  way  through,  and  with  prompt  decision  she 
bent  her  course  to  the  right  and  took  a  path  that  led  down- 
ward between  two  hedges  to  the  meadows. 

Henriette's  plan  now  was  to  reach  Bazeilles  by  those  broad 
levels  that  border  the  Meuse.  She  was  not  very  clear  about 
it  in  her  mind,  however,  and  continued  to  hasten  onward  in 


THE  DOWNFALL  249 

obedience  to  that  blind  instinct  which  had  originally  imparted 
to  her  its  impulse.  She  had  not  gone  far  before  she  found 
herself  standing  and  gazing  in  dismay  at  a  miniature  ocean 
which  barred  her  further  progress  in  that  direction.  It  was 
the  inundated  fields,  the  low-lying  lands  that  a  measure  of 
defense  had  converted  into  a  lake,  which  had  escaped  her 
memory.  For  a  single  moment  she  thought  of  turning  back  ; 
then,  at  the  risk  of  leaving  her  shoes  behind,  she  pushed  on, 
hugging  the  bank,  through  the  water  that  covered  the  grass 
and  rose  above  her  ankles.  For  a  hundred  yards  her  way, 
though  difficult,  was  not  impracticable ;  then  she  encountered 
a  garden-wall  directly  in  her  front  ;  the  ground  fell  off  sharply, 
and  where  the  wall  terminated  the  water  was  six  feet  deep. 
Her  path  was  closed  effectually  ;  she  clenched  her  little 
fists  and  had  to  summon  up  all  her  resolution  to  keep 
from  bursting  into  tears.  When  the  first  shock  of  disappoint- 
ment had  passed  over  she  made  her  way  along  the  enclosure 
and  found  a  narrow  lane  that  pursued  a  tortuous  course 
among  the  scattered  houses.  She  believed  that  now  her 
troubles  were  at  an  end,  for  she  was  acquainted  with  that 
labyrinth,  that  tangled  maze  of  passages,  which,  to  one  who 
had  the  key  to  them,  ended  at  the  village. 

But  the  missiles  seemed  to  be  falling  there  even  more 
thickly  than  elsewhere.  Henriette  stopped  short  in  her 
tracks  and  all  the  blood  in  her  body  seemed  to  flow  back 
upon  her  heart  at  a  frightful  detonation,  so  close  that  she 
could  feel  the  wind  upon  her  cheek.  A  shell  had  exploded 
directly  before  her  and  only  a  few  yards  away.  She  turned 
her  head  and  scrutinized  for  a  moment  the  heights  of  the  left 
bank,  above  which  the  smoke  from  the  German  batteries  was 
curling  upward  ;  she  saw  what  she  must  do,  and  when  she 
started  on  her  way  again  it  was  with  eyes  fixed  on  the  hori- 
zon, watching  for  the  shells  in  order  to  avoid  them.  There 
was  method  in  the  rash  daring  of  her  proceeding,  and  alt  the 
brave  tranquillity  that  the  prudent  little  housewife  had  at  her 
command.  She  was  not  going  to  be  killed  if  she  could  help 
it  ;  she  wished  to  find  her  husband  and  bring  him  back  with 
her,  that  they  might  yet  have  many  days  of  happy  life  together. 
The  projectiles  still  came  tumbling  frequently  as  ever  ;  she 
sped  along  behind  walls,  made  a  cover  of  boundary  stones, 
availed  herself  of  every  slight  depression.  But  presently  she 
came  to  an  open  space,  a  bit  of  unprotected  road  where  splin- 
ters and  fragments  of  exploded  shells  lay  thick,  and  she  was 


250  THE  DOWNFALL 

watching  behind  a  shed  for  a  chance  to  make  a  dash  when 
she  perceived,  emerging  from  a  sort  of  cleft  in  the  ground  in 
front  of  her,  a  human  head  and  two  bright  eyes  that  peered 
about  inquisitively.  It  was  a  little,  bare-footed,  ten-year-old 
boy,  dressed  in  a  shirt  and  ragged  trousers,  an  embryonic 
tramp,  who  was  watching  the  battle  with  huge  delight.  At 
every  report  his  small  black  beady  eyes  would  snap  and 
sparkle,  and  he  jubilantly  shouted  : 

"  Oh  my  !  aint  it  bully  ! — Look  out,  there  comes  another 
one  !  don't  stir  !  Boom  !  that  was  a  rouser ! — Don't  stir  ! 
don't  stir  !  " 

And  each  time  there  came  a  shell  he  dived  to  the  bottom 
of  his  hole,  then  reappeared,  showing  his  dirty,  elfish  face, 
until  it  was  time  to  duck  again. 

Henriette  now  noticed  that  the  projectiles  all  came 
from  Liry,  while  the  batteries  at  Pont-Maugis  and  Noyers 
were  confining  their  attention  to  Balan.  At  each  discharge 
she  could  see  the  smoke  distinctly,  immediately  afterward  she 
heard  the  scream  of  the  shell,  succeeded  by  the  explosion. 
Just  then  the  gunners  afforded  them  a  brief  respite  ;  the 
bluish  haze  above  the  heights  drifted  slowly  away  upon  the 
wind. 

"  They've  stopped  to  take  a  drink,  you  can  go  your  money 
on  it,"  said  the  urchin.  "  Quick,  quick,  give  me  your  hand  f 
Now's  the  time  to  skip  ! " 

He  took  her  by  the  hand  and  dragged  her  along  with  him, 
and  in  this  way  they  crossed  the  open  together,  side  by  side, 
running  for  dear  life,  with  head  and  shoulders  down.  When 
they  were  safely  ensconced  behind  a  stack  that  opportunely 
offered  its  protection  at  the  end  of  their  course  and  turned  to 
look  behind  them,  they  beheld  another  shell  come  rushing 
through  the  air  and  alight  upon  the  shed  at  the  very  spot  they 
had  occupied  so  lately.  The  crash  was  fearful;  the  shed  was 
knocked  to  splinters.  The  little  ragamuffin  considered  that  a 
capital  joke,  and  fairly  danced  with  glee. 

"  Bravo,  hit  'em  agin  !  that's  the  way  to  do  it ! — But  it  was 
time  for  us  to  skip,  though,  wasn't  it  ?" 

But  again  Henriette  struck  up  against  insurmountable  ob- 
stacles in  the  shape  of  hedges  and  garden-walls,  that  offered 
absolutely  no  outlet.  Her  irrepressible  companion,  still  wear- 
ing his  broad  grin  and  remarking  that  where  there  was  a  will 
there  was  a  way,  climbed  to  the  coping  of  a  wall  and  assisted 
her  to  scale  it.  On  reaching  the  further  side  they  found  them- 


THE  DOWNFALL  251 

selves  in  a  kitchen  garden  among  beds  of  peas  and  string- 
beans  and  surrounded  by  fences  on  every  side  ;  their  sole 
exit  was  through  the  little  cottage  ot  the  gardener.  The  boy 
led  the  way,  swinging  his  arms  and  whistling  unconcernedly, 
with  an  expression  on  his  face  of  most  profound  indifference. 
He  pushed  open  a  door  that  admitted  him  to  a  bedroom,  from 
which  he  passed  on  into  another  room,  where  there  was  an  old 
woman,  apparently  the  only  living  being  upon  the  premises. 
She  was  standing  by  a  table,  in  a  sort  of  dazed  stupor  ;  she 
looked  at  the  two  strangers  who  thus  unceremoniously  made  a 
highway  of  her  dwelling,  but  addressed  them  no  word,  nor  did 
they  speak  a  word  to  her.  They  vanished  as  quickly  as  they 
had  appeared,  emerging  by  the  exit  opposite  their  entrance 
upon  an  alley  that  they  followed  for  a  moment.  After  that 
there  were  other  difficulties  to  be  surmounted,  and  thus  they 
went  on  for  more  than  half  a  mile,  scaling  walls,  struggling 
through  hedges,  availing  themselves  of  every  short  cut  that 
offered,  it  might  be  the  door  of  a  stable  or  the  window  of  a 
cottage,  as  the  exigencies  of  the  case  demanded.  Dogs 
howled  mournfully  ;  they  had  a  narrow  escape  from  being  run 
down  by  a  cow  that  was  plunging  along,  wild  with  terror.  It 
seemed  as  if  they  must  be  approaching  the  village,  however  ; 
there  was  an  odor  of  burning  wood  in  the  air,  and  momently 
volumes  of  reddish  smoke,  like  veils  of  finest  gauze  floating  in 
the  wind,  passed  athwart  the  sun  and  obscured  his  light. 

All  at  once  the  urchin  came  to  a  halt  and  planted  himself  in 
front  of  Henriette. 

"  I' say,  lady,  tell  us  where  you're  going,  will  you  ? " 

"  You  can  see  very  well  where  I  am  going  ;  to  Bazeilles." 

He  gave  a  low  whistle  of  astonishment,  following  it  up  with 
the  shrill  laugh  of  the  careless  vagabond  to  whom  nothing  is 
sacred,  who  is  not  particular  upon  whom  or  what  he  launches 
his  irreverent  gibes. 

"  To  Bazeilles— oh,  no,  I  guess  not  ;  I  don't  think  my  busi- 
ness lies  that  way — I  have  another  engagement.  Bye-bye, 
ta-ta  !  " 

He  turned  on  his  heel  and  was  off  like  a  shot,  and  she  was 
none  the  wiser  as  to  whence  he  came  or  whither  he  went, 
She  had  found  him  in  a  hole,  she  had  lost  sight  of  him  at  the 
corner  of  a  wall,  and  never  was  she  to  set  eyes  on  him 
again. 

When  she  was  alone  again  Henriette  experienced  a  strange 
sensation  of  fear.  He  had  been  no  protection  to  her,  thai 


2$.2  THE   DOWNFALL 

scrubby  urchin,,  but  his  chatter  had  been  a  distraction  ;  lie  had 
Icept  her  spirits  up  by  his  way  of  making1  game  of  everything, 
as  if  it  was  all  one  huge  raree  show.  Now  she  was  beginning 
to  tremble,  her  strength  was  failing  her,  she,  who  by  nature 
was  so  courageous.  The  shells  no  longer  fell  around  her  : 
the  Germans  had  ceased  firing  on  Bazeilles,  probably  to  avoid 
killing  their  own  men,  who  were  now  masters  of  the  village  ; 
but  within  the  last  few  minutes  she  had  heard  the  whistling  of 
bullets,  that  peculiar;  sound"  like  the  buzzing  of  a  bluebottle  fly, 
that  she  recognized  by  having  heard  it  described.  There 
was  such  a  raging,  roaring  clamor  rising  to  the  heavens  in  the 
distance,  the  confused  uproar  of  .other  sounds  was  so  violent, 
that  in.it  she  faijed  to  distinguish  the  report  of  musketry.  As 
she  was  turning  the  corner. of, a  House  there  was  a  deadened 
thud  close  at  her  ear,  succeeded  by  the  sound  of  falling  plas- 
ter, which  brought  her  to^a  sudden  halt;  it  was  a  bullet  that 
had 'struck  the  fagade.  She  was  pale  as  death,  and  asked  her- 
self if  her  courage  would  be  sufficient  to  carry  her  through  to 
the  end  ;  and  before  she  had  time  to  frame  an  answer,  she  re- 
ceived what  seemed  to  her  a  blow  from  a  hammer  upon  her 
forehead,  and  sank,  stunned,  upon  her  knees.  It  was  a  spent 
ball  that  had  ricocheted  and  struck  her  a  little  above  the  left 
eyebrow  with  sufficient  force  to  raise  an  ugly  contusion.  When 
she  came  to,  raising  her  hands  to  her  forehead,  she  withdrew 
them  covered  with  blood.  But  the  pressure  of  her  ringers  had 
assured  her  that  the  bone  beneath  was  uninjured,  and  she 
said  aloud,  encouraging  herself  by  the  sound  of  her,  o\vp 
voice  : 

"It  is,  nothing,  it  is  nothing.  Come,  I  am  not  afraid  ;  no, 
no  T  I  am  not  afraid.'* 

And  it  was  the  truth  ;  she  arose,  and  from  that  time  walked 
amid  the  storm  of  .bullets  with  absolute  indifference,  like  one 
whose  soul  is  parted  from  his  body,  who  reasons  not,  who 
gives  his  life.  ,  She  marched  straight  onward,  with  head  erect, 
no  longer  seeking  to  shelter  herself,  and  if  she  struck  out  .at  a 
swifter  pace  it  was  only  that  she  might  reach  her  appointed 
end  more  quickly.  The  death-dealing  missiles  pattered,  an  the 
road  before  and  behind  her  ;  twenty  times  they  were  near.tak- 
ing  her  life  ;  she  never  noticed  them.  At  last  she  was  at  Ba- 
zeilles, and  struck  diagonally  across  a  field  of  lucerne  in  order 
to  regain  the  road,  the  main  street  that  traversed  the  village, 
Just  as  she  turned  into  it  she  cast  her  eyes  to  the  right,  and 
there,  some  two  hundred  paces  from  her,  beheld  her  house  in 


DO  WNFA £X  253 

;  -The  flames  were  invisible  against  t-he  bright  sunlight  ; 
the  roof  had  already  fallen  in  in  part,  the  windows  were  belch- 
ing dense  clouds  of  black  smoke.  She  could  restrain  herself 
no  longer,  and  ran  with  all ;her strength.-.  .v  v  ^ljr 

Ever  since  eight  o'clock  Weiss/abandoned  by  the  retiring 
troops,:  had  been  a  self-made- prisoner  there.  His  return  to 
Sedan  had  become  an  impossibility,  for  the  Bavarians,  imme- 
diately:U.pon:the  withdrawal  of4he  French,  had  swarmed  down 
from  the  park  of  Montivilliers.and  occupied  the  road.  He 
was- alone«  aft (J Defenseless:,  save  for  his  musket  .and  what  few 
cartridges  'Were  tef V  himv  when  he  ^beheld  before  his  door  a 
little  band  of  soldiers,  ten  mrijumber,,  abandoned,  like  himself, 
and  parted  from  their  comrades,  looking  about  them  for  a 
place  where  they  might  defend  themselves  and  sell  their  lives 
dearly.  He  ran  downstairs,  to  admit  4hem,  and  thenceforth 
the  house  had  a  garrison,  a  lieutenant,;  cprpbral  and  eight 
men,  all  bitterly  inflamed  against  the:  enemy,  and  resolved 

never  to  surrenderor    i.Y'  u  '/hssii  io1  :t.it«iij  iis 

.^  What,  ;;Laurent,  yoy  :here  !iV  rhe  exclaimed,  surprised  to 
recognize  among  the  soldiers  a  tall,  lean  young  man,  wjio  held 
in  his  hand  a  musket,  doubtless  taken  from  some  corpse. 

Laurent  was  dressed  m  'jacket  and -trousers  of  blue  cloth; 
he  was  helper  to  a  gardener  of  the  neighborhood,  and  had  lately 
lost  his  mother  and  his  wife,  both  of  whom  had  been  carried 
off  by  the  same  insidious  fever. 

"  And  why  shouldn't  I  be?  "he  replied.  "  All  I  have  is  my 
skin,  and  I'm  willing  to  give  that,  And  then  I  am  not  such  a 
bad  shot,  you  know,  and  it  will  be:  just  fun  for  me  to  blaze 
away  at  those  rascals  and  knock  one- of  'em  over  every  time." 

TFhe  lieutenant  and  the  corporal  had -already  begun  to  make 
an  inspection  of  the  premises.  There  was  nothing  to  be  done 
an  the  ground  floor.;  all. they  did  was  to  push  the  furniture 
against  the  door  and  windowSrin  rsuch  a  way  as  to  form  as 
secure  a  barricade  as  possible.  .After  attending  to  that  they 
proceeded  to  arrange  a  plan.forthe  defense  of  the  three  small 
rooms  of,  the  first  floor  and  the  Open  attic,  making  no  change, 
however;  in  the  measures  -that  had  been  already  taken  by 
Weiss,  th<ej  protection  of  the  windows  by  mattresses,  the  loop- 
holes cut  here  and  there  in  the  slats  of  the  blinds.  As  the 
lieutenant  w.as  leaning  from  the  window  to  take  a  survey  of 
their  surroundings,  he  heard  the  wailing  cry  of  a  child, 

I"  What  is,  that  ?  "  he  asked. 
Weiss  looked  from  the  window,  and,  in  the  adjoining  dye« 


«S4  THE   DOWNFALL 

house,  beheld  the  little  sick  boy,  Charles,  his  scarlet  face  resting 
on  the  white  pillow,  imploringly  begging  his  mother  to  bring 
him  a  drink :  his  mother,  who  lay  dead  across  the  threshold, 
beyond  hearing  or  answering.  With  a  sorrowful  expression  he 
replied : 

"  It  is  a  poor  little  child  next  door,  there,  crying  for  his 
mother,  who  was  killed  by  a  Prussian  shell." 

"  Tonnerrc  de  Dieu!  "  muttered  Laurent,  "  how  are  they  ever 
going  to  pay  for  all  these  things  !  " 

As  yet  only  a  few  random  shots  had  struck  the  front  of  the 
house.  Weiss  and  the  lieutenant,  accompanied  by  the  corporal 
and  two  men,  had  ascended  to  the  attic,  where  they  were  in 
better  position  to  observe  the  road,,  of  which  they  had  an 
oblique  view  as  far  as  the  Place  de  1'Eglise.  The  square  was 
now  occupied  by  the  Bavarians,  but  any  further  advance  was 
attended  by  difficulties  that  made  them  very  circumspect.  A 
handful  of  French  soldiers,  posted  at  the  mouth  of  a  narrow 
lane,  held  them  in  check  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  with 
a  fire  so  rapid  and  continuous  that  the  dead  bodies  lay  in  piles. 
The  next  obstacle  they  encountered  was  a  house  on  the  oppo- 
site corner,  which  also  detained  them  some  time  before  they 
could  get  possession  of  it.  At  one  time  a  woman,  with  a  mus- 
ket in  her  hands,  was  seen  through  the  smoke,  firing  from  one 
of  the  windows.  It  was  the  abode  of  a  baker,  and  a  few  sol- 
diers were  there  in  addition  to  the  regular  occupants;  and 
when  the  house  was  finally  carried  there  was  a  hoarse  shout : 
"  No  quarter  !"  a  surging,  struggling,  vociferating  throng 
poured  from  the  door  and  rolled'across  the  street  to  the  dead- 
wall  opposite,  and  in  the  raging  torrent  were  seen  the  woman's 
skirt,  the  jacket  of  a  man,  the  white  hairs  of  the  grandfather  ; 
then  came  the  crash  of  a  volley  of  musketry,  and  the  wall  was 
splashed  with  blood  from  base  to  coping.  This  was  a  point 
on  which  the  Germans  were  inexorable  ;  everyone  caught  with 
arms  in  his  hands  and  not  belonging  to  some  uniformed  organ- 
ization was  shot  without  the  formality  of  a  trial,  as  having 
violated  the  law  of  nations.  They  were  enraged  at  the  obsti- 
nate resistance  offered  them  by  the  village,  and  the  frightful 
loss  they  had  sustained  during  the  five  hours'  conflict  provoked 
them  to  the  most  atrocious  reprisals.  The  gutters  ran  red 
with  blood,  the  piled  dead  in  the  streets  formed  barricades, 
some  of  the  more  open  places  were  charnel-houses,  from  whose 
depths  rose  the  death-rattle  of  men  in  their  last  agony.  And 
in  every  house  that  they  had  to  carry  by  assault  in  this  way 


THE  DOWNFALL  •       255 

men  were  seen  distributing  wisps  of  lighted  straw,  others  ran 
to  and  fro  with  blazing  torches,  others  smeared  the  walls  and 
furniture  with  petroleum  ;  soon  whole  streets  were  burning, 
Bazeilles  was  in  flames. 

And  now  Weiss's  was  the  only  house  in  the  central  portion 
of  the  village  that  still  continued  to  hold  out,  preserving  its 
air  of  menace,  like  some  stern  citadel  determined  not  to  yield, 

"  Look  out !  here  they  come  !  "  shouted  the  lieutenant. 

A  simultaneous  discharge  from  the  attic  and  the  first  floor 
laid  low  three  of  the  Bavarians,  who  had  come  forward  hug- 
ging the  walls.  The  remainder  of  the  body  fell  back  and 
posted  themselves  under  cover  wherever  the  street  offered 
facilities,  and  the  siege  of  the  house  began  ;  the  bullets  pelted 
on  the  front  like  rattling  hail.  For  nearly  ten  minutes  the 
fusillade  continued  without  cessation,  damaging  the  stucco, 
but  not  doing  much  mischief  otherwise,  until  one  of  the  men 
whom  the  lieutenant  had  taken  with  him  to  the  garret  was  so 
imprudent  as  to  show  himself  at  a  window,  when  a  bullet 
struck  him  square  in  the  forehead,  killing  him  instantly.  It 
was  plain  that  whoever  exposed  himself  would  do  so  at  peril 
of  his  life. 

"  Doggone  it  !  there's  one  gone  ! "  growled  the  lieutenant. 
"  Be  careful,  will  you  ;  there's  not  enough  of  us  that  we  can 
afford  to  let  ourselves  be  killed  for  the  fun  of  it !  " 

He  had  taken  a  musket  and  was  firing  away  like  the  rest  of 
them  from  behind  the  protection  of  a  shutter,  at  the  same 
time  watching  and  encouraging  his  men.  It  was  Laurent,  the 
gardener's  helper,  however,  who  more  than  all  the  others  ex- 
cited his  wonder  and  admiration.  Kneeling  on  the  floor,  with 
hischassepot  peering  out  of  the  narrow  aperture  of  a  loophole, 
he  never  fired  until  absolutely  certain  of  his  aim  ;  he  even  told 
in  advance  where  he  intended  hitting  his  living  target. 

"  That  little  officer  in  blue  that  you  see  down  there,  in  the 
heart. — That  other  fellow,  the  tall,  lean  one,  between  the 
eyes. — I  don't  like  the  looks  of  that  fat  man  with  the  red  beard  ; 
I  think  I'll  let  him  have  it  in  the  stomach." 

And  each  time  his  man  went  down  as  if  struck  by  lightning, 
hit  in  the  very  spot  he  had  mentioned,  and  he  continued  to  fire 
at  intervals,  coolly,  without  haste,  there  being  no  necessity  for 
hurrying  himself,  as  he  remarked,  since  it  would  require  too 
long  a  time  to  kill  them  all  in  that  way. 

"Oh  !  if  I  had  but  my  eyes  !  "  Weiss  impatiently  exclaimed. 
He  had  broken  his  spectacles  a  while  before,  to  his  great  sor- 


256  V//£  DOWNFALL 


row.  He  had  his  double  eye-glass  still,  but  the  perspiration 
was  rolling  down  his  face  in  such  streams  that  it  was  impossi- 
ble to  keep  it  on  his  nose.  His'  usual  calm  collected  ness  was 
entirely  lost  in  his,  over-mastering  passion  ;  and.  thus,  between 
his  defective  vision  and  his,  agitatec}  nerves,  many  of  his  shpts 

.WwLW??tw-b3(Timi3J3b  J9bBiiD  ;v->*a  amo?  *).i\\  r?nj5i-racn  ,k>  li 
"  Don  t  hurry,  ,so?Jt  is  only  ,thrqw,ing  away  powder,  t  said 

Laurent.    ("  X)o  you  &ee  that  mar}  wr)o  pas  lost  his  helmetj  over 
yonder  by  the  ;grocer's  shpp  ?    Well,  i\ow  ftravy  a  bead  on  turn, 
.—  r-caref  ully,  don't  hurry.,    Tha|'s  'first-rate  !  (you  have  broken  his 
paw  for  him  and.  majfejuop  dance  a  jig,  in  hisx  own  felppq.'^ 
Weiss,,  rather,  ^pale.m  the  fape.  gaye  a  .lppkv  a):  ;  the  re'stilt  qf 

i    •  •  j  .-••'.*  V4   -,  fc*  •*.  *    r?n  1    t  M  *  j>     c  "  i  j  I  {  I   >£,  t 

his  marksmanship  .      ;     _.  »nil»«  siil  Jnoil  aril  .ra- 

"  Put.him  out  of.  his  misery,"  he  said. 
_  "  What  waste  a  cartridge  !.  ,,Npf  muqh,:  ^&f  tt 


The  besiegers  could  not  have  failed  to  nodes  the  'remarkable 
practice  of  the  invisible  sharpshooter  in  tht^ .attjc.  ^  Whoever 
of  them  shpwecj  himself  in  the  open  was.  certain^  to  remain 
there.  They  therefore  brought  up  re-enforcemerits  a'qcl  placed 
them. in  position^  with,  instruqtipns  to  maintain, an  unremitting 
fire  upon  the  roof  of  the  Building.  It  was  not  long  before  the, 
attic  became  untenable  ;  the  slates  were  perforated  as  if  they 
had  J?eeA  tissue  paper,  the  bullets  found  their  way  to  ejvery 
.nook  and  corner,  buzzing  and  .humming  as  if  the  room  had 

been  invaded  by  a  swarm  of  angry  bees.     Death  stared  them 

•  11  •' '    i : '  •  >'       '"/•   r  -  -«Ti    i    i    •     i 

all  in  the  face  if  they  .remained  there  longer.     ;,Hi  ^ 

,  "  We  will  go  dpwnstairs,"  said  the  lieutenant.  "  We  can 
hold  the  first  floor  for  a  while  yet."  But  as  he  was  making  for 
the  ladder  a  bullet  struck;  him  in  the  groin  and  he  fell,  "Top 
late,  doggpne  it !';,,' 

Weiss,  .and  Laurent,  aided  by  the  remaining  soldiers,  carried 
him  below.,,  notwithstanding  jiis  vehement  protests  ;  he  told 
them  not  to  waste  their  time,  on  him,  his  time  had  come;  he 
might  as  well  die  up  stairs  as  down.  He  was  still  able  '.to. 'be 
of  service  to  them,  however,  when  they  had. laid  him  on  a  bed 
in  a, room  of  the  first  floor,  by  advising  them  what  was  best 

"h    T-  •  1  »    1  ,         1  .  1  '1    «ftJ 

u  tire  into  the  mass,  he  said  ;  ."  don't  stop  to  take  aim. 
They  are  too  cowardly  to  risk  .an  advance,  unless,  they  see  your 
fire  begin  to.  slacken." 

An^Tsp  tKe  siege  pf  th_e  little  hpuse  went  on  as  LLit  was  Jo 
last  Tor  eternity.  "  Twenty  times  it  seemed  as  if  it  must  be  swept 


Tim  ^OW^ALL  257 

'away  bodily  by  the  storm  of  iron  that  beat  upon  it,, and  each 
time,  as  the  smoke  Drifted  away  it  was  seen  amid  the  sulphur- 
ous blasts,  torn,  pierced,  mangled,  but  erect  and  menacing, 
spitting  fire  and  lead  with  undiminished  venom  from  each  one 
of  its  orifices.  The  assailants,  furious  that  they  should  be  de- 
tained for  such  length  of  time  and  lose  so  many  men  before 
^such  a  hovel,  yelled  and  fired  wildly  in  the  distance,  but 
had  hot  courage  to  attempt  to  carry  the  lower  floor  by  a 

"  Look  out  !  "  shouted  the  corporal,  "  there  is  a  shutter  about 
to  fall!" 

The  concentrated  fire  had  torn  one  of  the  inside  blinds  from 
its  hinges,  but  Weiss  darted  forward  and  pushed  a  wardrobe 
before  the  window,  and  Laurent  was  enabled  to  continue  '{iis 
operations  under  cover.  One  of  the  soldiers  'was  lying  at  lii:- 
feet  with  his  jaw  broken,  losing  blood  freely.  Another  re- 
rceived  a  ballet  in  his  chest,  and  dragged  himself  over  to.  tfre 
wall,  where  he  lay  gasping  in  protracted  agony,  while  cqavul- 
sive  movements  shook  his  frame  at  intervals.  They  were  but 
eight,  now,  all  told,  not  counting  the  lieutenant,  who,  too  weak 
to  speak,  his  back  supported  by  the  headboard  of  the  bed,  con- 
,  tinued  to  give  his  directions  by  signs.  As  had  been  the  case 
with  the  attic,  the  three  rooms  of  the  first  floor  were  begin- 
ning to  be  untenable,  for  the  mangled  mattresses  no  longer 
afforded  protection  against  the  missiles  ;  at  every  instant  the 
plaster  fell  in  sheets  from  the  walls  and  ceiling,  and  the  fur- 
niture was  in  process  of  demolition  :  the  sides  of  the  ward- 
robe yawned  as  if  they  had  been  cloven  by  an  ax.  And  worse 
still,  the  ammunition  was  nearly  exhausted. 

"  It's  too  bad  !  "  grumbled  Laurent  ;  "just  when  everything 
was  going  so  beautifully  !  " 

But  suddenly  Weiss  was  struck  with  an  idea. 

"  Wait ! 

He  had  thought  of  the  dead  soldier  up  in  the  garret  above, 
and  climbed  up  the  ladder  to  search  for  the  cartridges  he  must 
have  about  him.  A  wide  space  of  the  roof  had  been  crushed 
in  ;  he  saw  the  blue  sky,  a  patch  of  bright,  wholesome  light 
that  made  him  start.  Not  wishing  to  be  killed,  he  crawled 
over  the  floor  on  his  hands  and  knees,  then,  when  he  had  the 
cartridges  in  his  possesion,  some  thirty  of  them,  he  made  haste 
down  again  as  fast  his  legs  Could  carry  him. 

Downstairs,  as  he  was,  sharing1  his  newly  acquired  treasure 
With  the  gardener's  lad,"a  soldier  uttered  a7  piercing  cry  arid 


258  THE  DOWNFALL 

sank  to  his  knees.  They  were  but  seven  ;  and  presently  they 
were  but  six,  a  bullet  having  entered  the  corporal's  head  at 
the  eye  and  lodged  in  the  brain. 

From  that  time  on,  Weiss  had  no  distinct  consciousness  of 
what  was  going  on  around  him  ;  he  and  the  five  others  con- 
tinued to  blaze  away  like  lunatics,  expending  their  cartridges, 
with  not  the  faintest  idea  in  their  heads  that  there  could  be 
such  a  thing  as  surrender.  In  the  three  small  rooms  the  floor 
was  strewn  with  fragments  of  the  broken  furniture.  Ingress 
and  egress  were  barred  by  the  corpses  that  lay  before  the  doors; 
in  one  corner  a  wounded  man  kept  up  a  pitiful  wail  that  was 
frightful  to  hear.  Every  inch  of  the  floor  was  slippery  with 
blood;  a  thin  stream  of  blood  from  the  attic  was  crawl- 
ing lazily  down  the  stairs.  And  the  air  was  scarce  respirable, 
an  air  thick  and  hot  with  sulphurous  fumes,  heavy  with  smoke, 
filled  with  an  acrid,  nauseating  dust  ;  a  darkness  dense  as  that 
of  night,  through  which  darted  the  red  flame-tongues  of  the 
musketry. 

"  By  God's  thunder !  "  cried  Weiss,  "  they  are  bringing  up 
artillery  !  " 

It  was  true.  Despairing  of  ever  reducing  that  handful  of 
madmen,  who  had  consumed  so  much  of  their  time^  the  Bavar- 
ians had  run  up  a  gun  to  the  corner  of  the  Place  de  1'Eglise, 
and  were  putting  it  into  position;  perhaps  they  would  be  al- 
lowed to  pass  when  they  should  have  knocked  the  house  to 
pieces  with  their  solid  shot.  And  the  honor  there  was  to  them 
in  the  proceeding,  the  gun  trained  on  them  down  there  in  the 
square,  excited  the  bitter  merriment  of  the  besieged  ;  the  ut- 
most intensity  of  scorn  was  in  their  gibes.  Ah  !  the  cowardly 
bougres,  with  their  artillery  !  Kneeling  in  his  old  place  still, 
Laurent  carefully  adjusted  his  aim  and  each  time  picked  off  a 
gunner,  so  that  the  service  of  the  piece  became  impossible,  and 
it  was  five  or  six  minutes  before  they  fired  their  first  shot.  lt( 
ranged  high,  moreover,  and  only  clipped  away  a  bit  of  the 
roof. 

But  the  end  was  now  at  hand.  It  was  all  in  vain  that  they 
searched  the  dead  men's  belts  ;  there  was  not  a  single  car- 
tridge left.  With  vacillating  steps  and  haggard  faces  the  six 
groped  around  the  room,  seeking  what  heavy  objects  they 
might  find  to  hurl  from  the  windows  upon  their  enemies.  One 
of  them  showed  himself  at  the  casement,  vociferating  insults, 
and  shaking  his  nst  ;  instantly  he  was  pierced  by  a  dozen  bul- 
lets ;  and  there  remained  but  five-  What  were  they  to  do  ?  go 


THE  DOWNFALL  259 

down  and  endeavor  to  make  their  escape  by  way  of  the  garden 
and  the  meadows  ?  The  question  was  never  answered,  for  at 
that  moment  a  tumult  arose  below,  a  furious  mob  came  tum- 
bling up  the  stairs  :  it  was  the  Bavarians,  who  had  at  last 
thought  of  turning  the  position  by  breaking  down  the  back 
door  and  entering  the  house  by  that  way.  For  a  brief  mo- 
ment a  terrible  hand-to-hand  conflict  raged  in  the  small  rooms 
among  the  dead  bodies  and  the  debris  of  the  furniture.  One 
of  the  soldiers  had  his  chest  transfixed  by  a  bayonet  thrust, 
the  two  others  were  made  prisoners,  while  the  attitude  of  the 
lieutenant,  who  had  given  up  the  ghost,  was  that  of  one  about 
to  give  an  order,  his  mouth  open,  his  arm  raised  aloft. 

While  these  things  were  occurring  an  officer,  a  big,  flaxen- 
haired  man,  carrying  a  revolver  in  his  hand,  whose  bloodshot 
eyes  seemed  bursting  from  their  sockets,  had  caught  sight  of 
Weiss  and  Laurent,  both  in  their  civilian  attire  ;  he  roared  at 
them  in  French  : 

"  Who  are  you,  you  fellows  ?  and  what  are  you  doing 
here  ?  " 

Then,  glancing  at  their  faces,  black  with  powder-stains,  he 
saw  how  matters  stood,  he  heaped  insult  and  abuse  on  them  in 
guttural  German,  in  a  voice  that  shook  with  anger.  Already 
he  had  raised  his  revolver  and  was  about  to  send  a  bullet  into 
their  heads,  when  the  soldiers  of  his  command  rushed  in,  seized 
Laurent  and  Weiss,  and  hustled  them  out  to  the  staircase. 
The  two  men  were  borne  along  like  straws  upon  a  mill-race 
amidst  that  seething  human  torrent,  under  whose  pressure  they 
were  hurled  from  out  the  door  and  sent  staggering,  stumbling 
across  the  street  to  the  opposite  wall  amid  a  chorus  of  execra- 
tion that  drowned  the  sound  of  their  officers'  voices. ,  Then, 
for  a  space  of  two  or  three  minutes,  while  the  big  fair- haired 
officer  was  endeavoring  to  extricate  them  in  order  to  proceed 
with  their  execution,  an  opportunity  was  afforded  them  to  raise 
themselves  erect  and  look  about  them. 

Other  houses  had  taken  fire  ;  Bazeilles  was  now  a  roaring, 
blazing  furnace.  Flames  had  begun  to  appear  at  the  tall  win- 
dows of  the  church  and  were  creeping  upward  toward  the  roof. 
Some  soldiers  who  were  driving  a  venerable  lady  from  her 
home  had  compelled  her  to  furnish  the  matches  with  which  to 
fire  her  own  beds  and  curtains.  Lighted  by  blazing  brands 
and  fed  by  petroleum  in  floods,  fires  were  rising  and  spreading 
in  every  quarter  ;  it  was  no  longer  civilized  warfare,  but  a  con 
flict  of  savages,  maddened  by  the  long  protracted  strife,  wreak 


260  THE  DOWNFALL 

ing  vengeance  for  their  dead,  their  heaps  of  dead,  upon  whom 
they  trod  at  every  step  they  took.  Yelling,  shouting  bands 
traversed  the  streets  amid  the  scurrying  smoke  and  falling 
cinders,  swelling  the  hideous  uproar  into  which  entered  sounds 
of  every  kind  :  shrieks,  groans,  the  rattle  of  musketry,  the  crash 
of  falling  walls.  Men  could  scarce  see  one  another  ;  great 
livid  clouds  drifted  athwart  the  sun  and  obscured  his  light, 
bearing  with  them  an  intolerable  stench  of  soot  and  blood, 
heavy  with  the  abominations  of  the  slaughter.  In  every  quarter 
the  work  of  death  and  destruction  still  went  on  :  the  human 
brute  unchained,  the  imbecile  wrath,  the  mad  fury,  of  man 
devouring  his  brother  man. 

And  Weiss  beheld  his  house  burn  before  his  eyes.  Some 
soldiers  had  applied  the  torch,  others  fed  the  flame  by  throw- 
ing upon  it  the  fragments  of  the  wrecked  furniture.  The  rez- 
de-chausste  was  quickly  in  a  blaze,  the  smoke  poured  in  dense 
black  volumes  from  the  wounds  in  the  front  and  roof.  But 
now  the  dye-house  adjoining  was  also  on  fire,  and  horrible  to 
relate,  the  voice  of  little  Charles,  lying  on  his  bed  delirious 
with  fever,  could  be  heard  through  the  crackling  of  the  flames, 
beseeching  his  mother  to  bring  him  a  draught  of  water,  while 
the  skirts  of  the  wretched  woman  who,  with  her  disfigured  face, 
lay  across  the  door-sill,  were  even  then  beginning  to  kindle. 

"  Mamma,  mamma,  I  am  thirsty  !  Mamma,  bring  me  a 
drink  of  water " 

The  weak,  faint  voice  was  drowned  in  the  roar  of  the  con- 
flagration ;  the  cheering  of  the  victors  rose  on  the  air  in  the 
distance. 

But  rising  above  all  other  sounds,  dominating  the  universal 
clamor,  a  terrible  cry  was  heard.  It  was  Henriette,  who  had 
reached  the  place  at  last,  and  now  beheld  her  husband,  backed 
up  against  the  wall,  facing  a  platoon  of  men  who  were  loading 
their  muskets. 

She  flew  to  him  and  threw  her  arms  about  his  neck. 

"My  God!  what  is  it!  They  cannot  be  going  to  kill 
you  ! " 

Weiss  looked  at  her  with  stupid,  unseeing  eyes.  She  !  his 
wife,  so  long  the  object  of  his  desire,  so  fondly  idolized  !  A 
great  shudder  passed  through  his  frame  and  he  awoke  to  con- 
sciousness of  his  situation.  What  had  he  done  ?  why  had  he 
remained  there,  firing  at  the  enemy,  instead  of  returning  to 
her  side,  as  he  had  promised  he  would  do  ?  It  all  flashed 
upon  him  now,  as  the  darkness  is  illuminated  by  the  light- 


THE  DOWNFALL  26, 

ning's  glare  :  he  had  wrecked  their  happiness,  they  were  to  be 
parted,  forever  parted.  Then  he  noticed  the  blood  upon  her 
forehead. 

"  Are  you  hurt  ? "  he  asked.    "  You  were  mad  to  come " 

She  interrupted  him  with  an  impatient  gesture. 

"  Never  mind  me  ;  it  is  a  mere  scratch.  But  you,  you  ! 
why  are  you  here  ?  They  shall  not  kill  you  ;  I  will  not  suffer 
it!" 

The  officer,  who  was  endeavoring  to  clear  the  road  in  order 
to  give  the  firing  party  the  requisite  room,  came  up  on  hearing 
the  sound  of  voices,  and  beholding  a  woman  with  her  arms 
about  the  neck  of  one  of  his  prisoners,  exclaimed  loudly  in 
French  : 

"  Come,  come,  none  of  this  nonsense  here  !  Whence  come 
you  ?  What  is  your  business  here  ?  " 

"Give  me  my  husband." 

"  What,  is  he  your  husband,  that  man?  His  sentence  is  pro- 
nounced ;  the  law  must  take  its  course." 

"  Give  me  my  husband." 

"  Come,  be  rational.  Stand  aside  ;  we  do  not  wish  to  harm 
you." 

"  Give  me  my  husband.'* 

Perceiving  the  futility  of  arguing  with  her,  the  officer  was 
about  to  give  orders  to  remove  her  forcibly  from  the  doomed 
man's  arms  when  Laurent,  who  until  then  had  maintained  an 
impassive  silence,  ventured  to  interfere. 

"  See  here,  Captain,  I  am  the  man  who  killed  so  many  of 
your  men  ;.  go  ahead  and  shoot  me — that  will  be  all  right,  es- 
pecially as  I  have  neither  chick  nor  child  in  all  the  world. 
But  this  gentleman's  case  is  different ;  he  is  a  married  man, 
don't  you  see.  Come,  now,  let  him  go  ;  then  you  can  settle 
my  business  as  soon  as  you  choose." 

Beside  himself  with  anger,  the  captain  screamed  : 

"  What  is  all  this  lingo  ?  Are  you  trying  to  make  game  of 
me  ?  Come,  step  out  here,  some  one  of  you  fellows,  and  take 
away  this  woman  !  " 

He  had  to  repeat  his  order  in  German,  whereon  a  soldier 
came  forward  from  the  ranks,  a  short  stocky  Bavarian,  with  an 
enormous  head  surrounded  by  a  bristling  forest  of  red  hair 
and  beard,  beneath  which  all  that  was  to  be  seen  were  a  pair  of 
big  blue  eyes  and  a  massive  nose.  He  was  besmeared  with 
blood,  a  hideous  spectacle,  like  nothing  so  much  as  some 
fierce,  hairy  denizen  of  the  woods,  emerging  from  his  cavern  and 


2b 2  THE  DOWNFALL 

licking  his  chops,  still  red  with  the  gore  of  the  victims  whose 
bones  he  has  been  crunching. 

With  a  heart-rending  cry  Henriette  repeated  : 

"  Give  me  my  husband,  or  let  me  die  with  him." 

This  seemed  to  cause  the  cup  of  the  officer's  exasperation 
to  overrun  ;  he  thumped  himself  violently  on  the  chest,  de- 
claring that  he  was  no  executioner,  that  he  would  rather  die 
than  harm  a  hair  of  an  innocent  head.  There  was  nothing 
against  her;  he  would  cut  off  his  right  hand  rather  than  do  her 
an  injury.  And  then  he  repeated  his  order  that  she  be  taken 
away. 

As  the  Bavarian  came  up  to  carry  out  his  instructions  Hen- 
riette tightened  her  clasp  on  Weiss's  neck,  throwing  all  her 
strength  into  her  frantic  embrace. 

"  Oh,  my  love  !  Keep  me  with  you,  I  beseech  you  ;  let  me 
die  with  you " 

Big  tears  were  rolling  down  his  cheeks  as,  without  answer- 
ing, he  endeavored  to  loosen  the  convulsive  clasp  of  the  fin- 
gers of  the  poor  creature  he  loved  so  dearly. 

"You  love  me  no  longer,  then,  that  you  wish  to  die  without 
me.  Hold  me,  keep  me,  do  not  let  them  take  me.  They  will 
weary  at  last,  and  will  kill  us  together." 

He  had  loosened  one  of  the  little  hands,  and  carried  it  to 
his  lips  and  kissed  it,  working  all  the  while  to  make  the  other 
release  its  hold. 

"  No,  no,  it  shall  not  be  !  I  will  not  leave  thy  bosom  ;  they 
shall  pierce  my  heart  before  reaching  thine.  I  will  not  sur- 
vive  " 

But  at  last,  after  a  long  struggle,  he  held  both  the  hands  in 
his.  Then  he  broke  the  silence  that  he  had  maintained  until 
then,  uttering  one  single  word  : 

"  Farewell,  dear  wife." 

And  with  his  own  hands  he  placed  her  in  the  arms  of  the 
Bavarian,  who  carried  her  away.  She  shrieked  and  struggled, 
while  the  soldier,  probably  with  intent  to  soothe  her,  kept 
pouring  in  her  ear  an  uninterrupted  stream  of  words  in  un- 
melodious  German.  And,  having  freed  her  head,  looking 
over  the  shoulder  of  the  man,  she  beheld  the  end. 

It  lasted  not  five  seconds.  Weiss,  whose  eye-glass  had 
slipped  from  its  position  in  the  agitation  of  their  parting, 
quickly  replaced  it  upon  his  nose,  as  if  desirous  to  look  death 
in  the  face.  He  stepped  back  and  placed  himself  against  the 
wall,  and  the  face  of  the  self-contained,  strong  young  man,  as 


TffJS  DOWNFALL 

he  stood  there  in  his  tattered  coat,  was  sublimely  beautiful  in 
its  expression  of  tranquil  courage.  Laurent,  who  stood  beside 
him,  had  thrust  his  hands  deep  down  into  his  pockets.  The 
cold  cruelty  of  the  proceeding  disgusted  him  ;  it  seemed  to 
him  that  they  could  not  be  far  removed  from  savagery  who 
could  thus  slaughter  men  before  the  eyes  of  their  wives. 
He  drew  himself  up,  looked  them  square  in  the  face,  and  in  a 
tone  of  deepest  contempt  expectorated  : 

"  Dirty  pigs  !  " 

The  officer  raised  his  sword  ;  the  signal  was  succeeded  by 
a  crashing  volley,  and  the  two  men  sank  to  the  ground,  an 
inert  mass,  the  gardener's  lad  upon  his  face,  the  other,  the 
accountant,  upon  his  side,  lengthwise  of  the  wall.  The  frame 
of  the  latter,  before  he  expired,  contracted  in  a  supreme  con- 
vulsion, the  eyelids  quivered,  the  mouth  opened  as  if  he  was 
about  to  speak.  The  officer  came  up  and  stirred  him  with  his 
foot,  to  make  sure  that  he  was  really  dead. 

Henriette  had  seen  the  whole  :  the  fading  eyes  that  sought 
her  in  death,  the  last  struggle  of  the  strong  man  in  agony,  the 
brutal  boot  spurning  the  corpse.  And  while  the  Bavarian 
still  held  her  in  his  arms,  conveying  her  further  and  further 
from  the  object  of  her  love,  she  uttered  no  cry  ;  she  set  her 
teeth,  in  silent  fury,  into  what  was  nearest  :  a  human  hand,  it 
chanced  to  be.  The  soldier  gave  vent  to  a  howl  of  anguish 
and  dashed  her  to  the  ground  ;  raising  his  uninjured  fist  above 
her  head  he  was  on  the  point  of  braining  her.  And  for  a 
moment  their  faces  were  in  contact ;  she  experienced  a  feeling 
of  intensest  loathing  for  the  monster,  and  that  blood-stained 
hair  and  beard,  those  blue  eyes,  dilated  and  brimming  with 
hate  and  rage,  were  destined  to  remain  forever  indelibly  im- 
printed on  her  memory. 

In  after  days  Henriette  could  never  account  distinctly  to 
herself  for  the  time  immediately  succeeding  these  events. 
She  had  but  one  desire  :  to  return  to  the  spot  where  her  loved 
one  had  died,  take  possession  of  his  remains,  and  watch  and 
weep  over  them  ;  but,  as  in  an  evil  dream,  obstacles  of  every 
sort  arose  before  her  and  barred  the  way.  First  a  heavy 
infantry  fire  broke  out  afresh,  and  there  was  great  activity 
among  the  German  troops  who  were  holding  Bazeilles  ;  it  was 
due  to  the  arrival  of  the  infanterie  de  marine  and  other  regi- 
ments that  had  been  despatched  from  Balan  to  regain  posses- 
sion of  the  village,  and  the  battle  commenced  to  rage  again 
with  the  utmost  fury.  The  young  woman,  in  company  with  a 


264  TtfE  DOWNFALL 

band  of  terrified  citizens,  was  swept  away  to  the  left  into  a 
dark  alley.  The  result  of  the  conflict  could  not  remain  long 
doubtful,  however  ;  it  was  too  late  to  reconquer  the  aban- 
doned positions.  For  near  half  an  hour  the  infantry  strug- 
gled against  superior  numbers  and  faced  death  with  splendid 
bravery,  but  the  enemy's  strength  was  constantly  increasing, 
their  re-enforcements  were  pouring  in  from  every  direction, 
the  roads,  the  meadows,  the  park  of  Montivilliers  ;  no  force  at 
our  command  could  have  dislodged  them  from  the  position, 
so  dearly  bought,  where  they  had  left  thousands  of  their 
bravest.  Destruction  and  devastation  now  had  done  their 
work  ;  the  place  was  a  shambles,  disgraceful  to  humanity, 
where  mangled  forms  lay  scattered  among  smoking  ruins,  and 
poor  Bazeilles,  having  drained  the  bitter  cup,  went  up  at  last 
in  smoke  and  flame. 

Henriette  turned  and  gave  one  last  look  at  her  little  house, 
whose  floors  fell  in  even  as  she  gazed,  sending  myriads  of  lit- 
tle sparks  whirling  gayly  upward  on  the  air.  And  there,  be- 
fore her,  prone  at  the  wall's  foot,  she  saw  her  husband's  corpse, 
and  in  her  despair  and  grief  would  fain  have  returned  to  him, 
but  just  then  another  crowd  came  up  and  surged  around  her, 
the  bugles  were  sounding  the  signal  to  retire,  she  was  borne 
away,  she  knew  not  how,  among  the  retreating  troops.  Her 
faculty  of  self-guidance  left  her  ;  she  was  as  a  bit  of  flotsam 
swept  onward  by  the  eddying  human  tide  that  streamed  along 
the  way.  And  that  was  all  she  could  remember  until  she  be- 
came herself  again  and  found  she  was  at  Balan,  among 
strangers,  her  head  reclined  upon  a  table  in  a  kitchen,  weeping. 


V. 

IT  was  nearly  ten  o'clock  up  on  the  Plateau  de  1'Al- 
gerie,  and  still  the  men  of  Beaudoin's  company  were  rest- 
ing supine,  among  the  cabbages,  in  the  field  whence  they  had 
not  budged  since  early  morning.  The  cross  fire  from  the  bat- 
teries on  Hattoy  and  the  peninsula  of  Iges  was  hotter  than  ever; 
it  had  just  killed  two  more  of  their  number,  and  there  were  no 
orders  for  them  to  advance.  Were  they  to  stay  there  and  be 
shelled  all  day,  without  a  chance  to  see  anything  of  the  fighting? 
They  were  even  denied  the  relief  of  discharging  their  chasse- 
pots.  Captain  Beaudoin  had  at  last  put  his  foot  down  and 
stopped  the  firing,  that  senseless  fusillade  against  the  little 


THE  DOWNFALL  265 

wood  in  front  of  them,  which  seemed  entirely  deserted  by  the 
Prussians.  The  heat  was  stifling;  it  seemed  to  them  that  they 
should  roast,  stretched  there  on  the  ground  under  the  blazing 
sky. 

Jean  was  alarmed,  on  turning  to  look  at  Maurice,  to  see  that 
he  had  declined  his  head  and  was  lying,  with  closed  eyes, 
apparently  inanimate,  his  cheek  against  the  bare  earth.  He 
was  very  pale,  there  was  no  sign  of  life  in  his  face. 

"Hallo  there!   what's  the  matter?" 

But  Maurice  was  only  sleeping.  The  mental  strain,  con- 
jointly with  his  fatigue,  had  been  too  much  for  him,  in  spite  of 
the  dangers  that  menaced  them  at  every  moment.  He  awoke 
with  a  start  and  stared  about  him,  and  the  peace  that  slumber 
had  left  in  his  wide-dilated  eyes  was  immediately  supplanted  by 
a  look  of  startled  affright  as  it  dawned  on  him  where  he  was. 
He  had  not  the  remotest  idea  how  long  he  had  slept ;  all  he 
knew  was  that  the  state  from  which  he  had  been  recalled  to  the 
horrors  of  the  battlefield  was  one  of  blessed  oblivion  and 
tranquillity. 

"Hallo!  that's  funny;  I  must  have  been  asleep!"  he  mur- 
mured. "Ah!  it  has  done  me  good." 

It  was  true  that  he  suffered  less  from  that  pressure  about  his 
temples  and  at  his  heart,  that  horrible  constriction  that  seems 
as  if  it  would  crush  one's  bones.  He  chaffed  Lapoulle,  who 
had  manifested  much  uneasiness  since  the  disappearance  of 
Chouteau  and  Loubet  and  spoke  of  going  to  look  for  them. 
A  capital  idea!  so  he  might  get  away  and  hide  behind  a  tree, 
and  smoke  a  pipe!  Pache  thought  that  the  surgeons  had 
detained  them  at  the  ambulance,  where  there  was  a  scarcity  of 
sick-bearers.  That  was  a  job  that  he  had  no  great  fancy  for, 
to  go  around  under  fire  and  collect  the  wounded !  And 
haunted  by  a  lingering  superstition  of  the  country  where  he 
was  born,  he  added  that  it  was  unlucky  to  touch  a  corpse ;  it 
brought  death. 

"Shut  up,  confound  you!"  roared  Lieutenant  Rochas. 
"Who  is  going  to  die?" 

Colonel  de  Vineuil,  sitting  his  tall  horse,  turned  his  head  and 
gave  a  smile,  the  first  that  had  been  seen  on  his  face  that 
morning.  Then  he  resumed  his  statue-like  attitude,  waiting 
for  orders  as  impassively  as  ever  under  the  tumbling  shells. 

Maurice's  attention  was  attracted  to  the  sick-bearers,  whose 
movements  he  watched  with  interest  as  they  searched  for 
wounded  men  among  the  depressions  of  the  ground.  At  the 


266  THE  DOWNFALL 

end  of  a  sunken  road,  and  protected  by  a  low  ridge  not  far  from 
their  position,  a  flying  ambulance  of  first  aid  had  been  estab- 
lished, and  its  emissaries  had  begun  to  explore  the  plateau. 
A  tent  was  quickly  erected,  while  from  the  hospital  van  the 
attendants  extracted  the  necessary  supplies ;  compresses, 
bandages,  linen,  and  the  few  indispensable  instruments  re- 
quired for  the  hasty  dressings  they  gave  before  dispatching 
the  patients  to  Sedan,  which  they  did  as  rapidly  as  they  could 
secure  wagons,  the  supply  of  which  was  limited.  There  was 
an  assistant  surgeon  in  charge,  with  two  subordinates  of  infe- 
rior rank  under  him.  In  all  the  army  none  showed  more 
gallantry  and  received  less  acknowledgment  than  the  litter- 
bearers.  They  could  be  seen  all  over  the  field  in  their  gray 
uniform,  with  the  distinctive  red  badge  on  their  cap  and  on 
their  arm,  courageously  risking  their  lives  and  unhurriedly 
pushSg  forward  through  the  thickest  of  the  fire  to  the  spots 
where  men  had  been  seen  to  fall.  At  times  they  would  creep 
on  hands  and  knees :  would  always  take  advantage  of  a  hedge 
or  ditch,  or  any  shelter  that  was  afforded  by  the  conformation 
of  the  ground,  never  exposing  themselves  unnecessarily  out  of 
bravado.  When  at  last  they  reached  the  fallen  men  their 
painful  task  commenced,  which  was  made  more  difficult  and 
protracted  by  the  fact  that  many  of  the  subjects  had  fainted, 
and  it  was  hard  to  tell  whether  they  were  alive  or  dead. 
Some  lay  face  downward  with  their  mouths  in  a  pool  of  blood, 
in  danger  of  suffocating,  others  had  bitten  the  ground  until 
their  throats  were  choked  with  dry  earth,  others,  where  a  shell 
had  fallen  among  a  group,  were  a  confused,  intertwined  heap 
of  mangled  limbs  and  crushed  trunks.  With  infinite  care  and 
patience  the  bearers  would  go  through  the  tangled  mass,  sepa- 
rating the  living  from  the  dead,  arranging  their  limbs  and  rais- 
ing the  head  to  give  them  air,  cleansing  the  face  as  well  as 
they  could  with  the  means  at  their  command.  Each  of  them 
carried  a  bucket  of  cool  water,  which  he  had  to  use  very  sav- 
ingly. And  Maurice  could  see  them  thus  engaged,  often  for 
minutes  at  a  time,  kneeling  by  some  man  whom  they  were  try- 
ing to  resuscitate,  waiting  for  him  to  show  some  sign  of  life. 

He  watched  one  of  them,  some  fifty  yards  away  to  the  left, 
working  over  the  wound  of  a  little  soldier  from  the  sleeve  of 
whose  tunic  a  thin  stream  of  blood  was  trickling,  drop  by  drop. 
The  man  of  the  red  cross  discovered  the  source  of  the  hemor- 
rhage and  finally  checked  it  by  compressing  the  artery.  In 
urgent  cases,  like  that  of  the  little  soldier,  they  rendered  these 


THE  DOWNFALL  267 

partial  attentions,  locating  fractures,  bandaging  and  immobil- 
izing the  limbs  so  as  to  reduce  the  danger  of  transportation. 
And  the  transportation,  even,  was  an  affair  that  called  for  a 
great  deal  of  judgment  and  ingenuity;  they  assisted  those  who 
could  walk,  and  carried  others,  either  in  their  arms,  like  little 
children,  or  pickaback  when  the  nature  of  the  hurt  allowed  it; 
at  other  times  they  united  in  groups  of  two,  three,  or  four, 
according  to  the  requirements  of  the  case,  and  made  a  chair  by 
joining  their  hands,  or  carried  the  patient  off  by  his  legs  and 
shoulders  in  a  recumbent  posture.  In  addition  to  the  stretchers 
provided  by  the  medical  department  there  were  all  sorts  of 
temporary  makeshifts,  such  as  the  stretchers  improvised  from 
knapsack  straps  and  a  couple  of  muskets.  And  in  every  direc- 
tion on  the  unsheltered,  shell-swept  plain  they  could  be  seen, 
singly  or  in  groups,  hastening  with  their  dismal  loads  to  the 
rear,  their  heads  bowed  and  picking  their  steps,  an  admirable 
spectacle  of  prudent  heroism. 

Maurice  saw  a  pair  on  his  right,  a  thin,  puny  little  fellow 
lugging  a  burly  sergeant,  with  both  legs  broken,  suspended 
from  his  neck ;  the  sight  reminded  the  young  man  of  an  ant 
toiling  under  a  burden  many  times  larger  than  itself ;  and  even 
as  he  watched  them  a  shell  burst  directly  in  their  path  and  they 
were  lost  to  view.  When  the  smoke  cleared  away  the  sergeant 
was  seen  lying  on  his  back,  having  received  no  further  injury, 
while  the  bearer  lay  beside  him,  disemboweled.  And  another 
came  up,  another  toiling  ant,  who,  when  he  had  turned  his 
dead  comrade  on  his  back  and  examined  him,  took  the  ser- 
geant up  and  made  off  with  his  load. 

It  gave  Maurice  a  chance  to  read  Lapoulle  a  lesson. 

"I  say,  if  you  like  the  business,  why  don't  you  go  and  give 
that  man  a  lift!" 

For  some  little  time  the  batteries  at  Saint-Menges  had  been 
thundering  as  if  determined  to  surpass  all  previous  efforts,  and 
Captain  Beaudoin,  who  was  still  tramping  nervously  up  and 
down  before  his  company  line,  at  last  stepped  up  to  the  colo- 
nel. It  was  a  pity,  he  said,  to  waste  the  men's  morale  in  that 
way  and  keep  their  minds  on  the  stretch  for  hours  and  hours. 

"I  can't  help  it;  I  have  no  orders,"  the  colonel  stoically 
replied. 

They  had  another  glimpse  of  General  Douay  as  he  flew  by  at 
a  gallop,  followed  by  his  staff.  He  had  just  had  an  interview 
with  General  de  Wimpffen,  who  had  ridden  up  to  entreat  him 
to  hold  his  ground,  which  he  thought  he  could  promise  to  do, 


268  THE  DOWNFALL 

but  only  so  long  as  the  Calvary  of  Illy,  on  his  right,  held  out ; 
Illy  once  taken,  he  would  be  responsible  for  nothing;  their 
defeat  would  be  inevitable.  General  de  Wimpffen  averred 
that  the  ist  corps  would  look  out  for  the  position  at  Illy,  and 
indeed  a  regiment  of  zouaves  was  presently  seen  to  occupy  the 
Calvary,  so  that  General  Douay,  his  anxiety  being  relieved  on 
that  score,  sent  Dumont's  division  to  the  assistance  of  the  i2th 
corps,  which  was  then  being  hard  pushed.  Scarcely  fifteen 
minutes  later,  however,  as  he  was  returning  from  the  left, 
whither  he  had  ridden  to  see  how  affairs  were  looking,  he  was 
surprised,  raising  his  eyes  to  the  Calvary,  to  see  it  was  unoccu- 
pied; there  was  not  a  zouave  to  be  seen  there,  they  had  aban- 
doned the  plateau  that  was  no  longer  tenable  by  reason  of  the 
terrific  fire  from  the  batteries  at  Fleigneux.  With  a  despairing 
presentiment  of  impending  disaster  he  was  spurring  as  fast  as 
he  could  to  the  right,  when  he  encountered  Dumont's  division, 
flying  in  disorder,  broken  and  tangled  in  inextricable  confu- 
sion with  the  debris  of  the  ist  corps.  The  latter,  which,  after 
its  retrograde  movement,  had  never  been  able  to  regain  posses- 
sion of  the  posts  it  had  occupied  in  the  morning,  leaving 
Daigny  in  the  hands  of  the  Xllth  Saxon  corps  and  Givonne  to 
the  Prussian  Guards,  had  been  compelled  to  retreat  in  a  north- 
erly direction  across  the  wood  of  Garenne,  harassed  by  the 
batteries  that  the  enemy  had  posted  on  every  summit  from  one 
end  of  the  valley  to  the  other.  The  terrible  circle  of  fire  and 
flame  was  contracting;  a  portion  of  the  Guards  had  continued 
their  march  on  Illy,  moving  from  east  to  west  and  turning  the 
eminences,  while  from  west  to  east,  in  the  rear  of  the  Xlth 
corps,  now  masters  of  Saint-Menges,  the  Vth,  mpving  steadily 
onward,  had  passed  Fleigneux  and  with  insolent  temerity  was 
constantly  pushing  its  batteries  more  and  more  to  the  front, 
and  so  contemptuous  were  they  of  the  ignorance  and  impo- 
tence of  the  French  that  they  did  not  even  wait  for  the  infan- 
try to  come  up  to  support  their  guns.  It  was  midday ;  the 
entire  horizon  was  aflame,  concentrating  its  destructive  fire  on 
the  yth  and  ist  corps. 

Then  General  Douay,  while  the  German  artillery  was  thus 
preparing  the  way  for  the  decisive  movement  that  should  make 
them  masters  of  the  Calvary,  resolved  to  make  one  last  desper- 
ate attempt  to  regain  possession  of  the  hill.  He  dispatched 
his  orders,  and  throwing  himself  in  person  among  the  fugitives 
of  Dumont's  division,  succeeded  in  forming  a  column  which 
he  sent  forward  to  the  plateau.  It  held  its  ground  for  a  few 


THE  DOWNFALL  269 

minutes,  but  the  bullets  whistled  so  thick,  the  naked,  treeless 
fields  were  swept  by  such  a  tornado  of  shot  and  shell,  that  it 
was  not  long  before  the  panic  broke  out  afresh,  sweeping  the 
men  adown  the  slopes,  rolling  them  up  as  straws  are  whirled 
before  the  wind.  And  the  general,  unwilling  to  abandon  his 
project,  ordered  up  other  regiments. 

A  staff  officer  galloped  by,  shouting  to  Colonel  de  Vineuil 
as  he  passed  an  order  that  was  lost  in  the  universal  uproar. 
Hearing,  the  colonel  was  erect  in  his  stirrups  in  an  instant/ his 
face  aglow  with  the  gladness  of  battle,  and  pointing  to  the 
Calvary  with  a  grand  movement  of  his  sword: 

' '  Our  turn  has  come  at  last,  boys !  "  he  shouted.    ' ' Forward ! ' ' 

A  thrill  of  enthusiasm  ran  through  the  ranks  at  the  brief 
address,  and  the  regiment  put  itself  in  motion.  Beaudoin's 
company  was  among  the  first  to  get  on  its  feet,  which  it  did  to 
the  accompaniment  of  much  good-natured  chaff,  the  men 
declaring  they  were  so  rusty  they  could  not  move ;  the  gravel 
must  have  penetrated  their  joints.  The  fire  was  so  hot,  how- 
ever, that  by  the  lime  they  had  advanced  a  few  feet  they  were 
glad  to  avail  themselves  of  the  protection  of  a  shelter  trench 
that  lay  in  their  path,  along  which  they  crept  in  an  undignified 
posture,  bent  almost  double. 

"Now,  young  fellow,  lookout  for  yourself!"  Jean  said  to 
Maurice;  "we're  in  for  it.  Don't  let  'em  see  so  much  as  the 
end  of  your  nose,  for  if  you  do  they  will  surely  snip  it  off,  and 
keep  a  sharp  lookout  for  your  legs  and  arms  unless  you  have 
more  than  you  care  to  keep.  Those  who  come  out  of  this  with 
a  whole  skin  will  be  lucky." 

Maurice  did  not  hear  him  very  distinctly ;  the  words  were 
lost  in  the  all-pervading  clamor  that  buzzed  and  hummed  in 
the  young  man's  ears.  He  could  not  have  told  now  whether 
he  was  afraid  or  not ;  he  went  forward  because  the  others  did, 
borne  along  with  them  in  their  headlong  rush,  without  distinct 
volition  of  his  own  ;  his  sole  desire  was  to  have  the  affair  ended 
as  soon  as  possible.  So  true  was  it  that  he  was  a  mere  drop  in 
the  on-pouring  torrent  that  when  the  leading  files  came  to  the 
end  of  the  trench  and  began  to  waver  at  the  prospect  of  climb- 
ing the  exposed  slope  that  lay  before  them,  he  immediately  felt 
himself  seized  by  a  sensation  of  panic,  and  was  ready  to  turn 
and  fly.  It  was  simply  an  uncontrollable  instinct,  a  revolt  of 
the  muscles,  obedient  to  every  passing  breath. 

Some  of  the  men  had  already  faced  about  when  the  colonel 
came  hurrying  up. 


2?d  THE  DOWNFALL 

"Steady  there,  my  children.  You  won't  cause  me  this  great 
sorrow;  you  won't  behave  like  cowards.  Remember,  the 
io6th  has  never  turned  its  back  upon  the  enemy ;  will  you  be 
the  first  to  disgrace  our  flag?" 

And  he  spurred  his  charger  across  the  path  of  the  fugitives, 
addressing  them  individually,  speaking  to  them  of  their  coun- 
try, in  a  voice  that  trembled  with  emotion. 

Lieutenant  Rochas  was  so  moved  by  his  words  that  he  gave 
way  to  an  ungovernable  fit  of  anger,  raising  his  sword  and 
belaboring  the  men  with  the  flat  as  if  it  had  been  a  club. 

"You  dirty  loafers,  I'll  see  whether  you  will  go  up  there  or 
not!  I'll  kick  you  up!  About  face!  and  I'll  break  the  jaw 
of  the  first  man  that  refuses  to  obey!" 

But  such  an  extreme  measure  as  kicking  a  regiment  into 
action  was  repugnant  to  the  colonel. 

"No,  no,  lieutenant;  they  will  follow  me.  Won't  you,  my 
children?  You  won't  let  your  old  colonel  fight  it  out  alone 
with  the  Prussians!  Up  there  lies  the  way;  forwarc:!" 

He  turned  his  horse  and  left  the  trench,  and  they  did  all  fol- 
low, to  a  man,  for  he  would  have  been  considered  the  lowest  of 
the  low  who  could  have  abandoned  their  leader  after  that 
brave,  kind  speech.  He  was  the  only  one,  however,  who, 
while  crossing  the  open  fields,  erect  on  his  tall  horse,  was  cool 
and  unconcerned ;  the  men  scattered,  advancing  in  open  order 
and  availing  themselves  of  every  shelter  afforded  by  the  ground. 
The  land  sloped  upward ;  there  were  fully  five  hundred  yards 
of  stubble  and  beet  fields  between  them  and  the  Calvary,  and 
in  place  of  the  correctly  aligned  columns  that  the  spectator  sees 
advancing  when  a  charge  is  ordered  in  field  maneuvers,  all  that 
was  to  be  seen  was  a  loose  array  of  men  with  rounded  backs, 
singly  or  in  small  groups,  hugging  the  ground,  now  crawling 
warily  a  little  way  on  hands  and  kne::,  now  dashing  forward 
for  the  next  cover,  like  huge  insects  ghting  their  way  upward 
to  the  crest  by  dint  of  agility  and  address.  The  enemy's  bat- 
teries seemed  to  have  become  aware  of  the  movement;  their 
fire  was  so  rapid  that  the  reports  of  the  guns  were  blended  in 
one  continuous  roar.  Five  men  were  killed,  a  lieutenant  was 
cut  in  two. 

Maurice  and  Jean  had  considered  themselves  fortunate  that 
their  way  led  along  a  hedge  behind  which  they  could  push  for- 
ward unseen,  but  the  man  immediately  in  front  of  them  was 
shot  through  the  temples  and  fell  back  dead  in  their  arms ; 
they  had  to  cast  him  down  at  one  side.  By  this  time,  however, 


THE  DO WNFA LL  2jl 

the  casualties  had  ceased  to  excite  attention ;  they  were  too 
numerous.  A  man  went  by,  uttering  frightful  shrieks  and 
pressing  his  hands  upon  his  protruding  entrails;  they  beheld  a 
horse  dragging  himself  along  with  both  thighs  broken,  and 
these  anguishing  sights,  these  horrors  of  the  battlefield,  affected 
them  no  longer.  They  were  suffering  from  the  intolerable 
heat,  the  noonday  sun  that  beat  upon  their  backs  and  burned 
like  hot  coals. 

"How  thirsty  I  am!"  Maurice  murmured.  "My  throat  is 
like  an  ash  barrel.  Don't  you  notice  that  smell  of  something 
scorching,  a  smell  like  burning  woolen?" 

Jean  nodded.  "It  was  just  the  same  at  Solferino ;  perhaps 
it  is  the  smell  that  always  goes  with  war.  But  hold,  I  have  a 
little  brandy  left;  we'll  have  a  sup." 

And  they  paused  behind  the  hedge  a  moment  and  raised  the 
flask  to  their  lips,  but  the  brandy,  instead  of  relieving  their 
thirst,  burned  their  stomach.  It  irritated  them,  that  nasty 
taste  of  burnt  rags  in  their  mouths.  Moreover  they  perceived 
that  their  strength  was  commencing  to  fail  for  want  of  suste- 
nance and  would  have  liked  to  take  a  bite  from  the  half  loaf 
that  Maurice  had  in  his  knapsack,  but  it  would  not  do  to  stop 
and  breakfast  there  under  fire,  and  then  they  had  to  keep  up 
with  their  comrades.  There  was  a  steady  stream  of  men  com- 
ing up  behind  them  along  the  hedge  who  pressed  them  forward, 
and  so,  doggedly  bending  their  backs  to  the  task  before  them, 
they  resumed  their  course.  Presently  they  made  their  final 
rush  and  reached  the  crest.  They  were  on  the  plateau,  at  the 
very  foot  of  the  Calvary,  the  old  weather-beaten  cross  that 
stood  between  two  stunted  lindens.  ' 

"Good  for  our  side!"  exclaimed  Jean;  "here  we  are!  But 
the  next  thing  is  to  remain  here!" 

He  was  right ;  it  was  not  the  pleasantest  place  in  the  world 
to  be  in,  as  Lapoulle  remarked  in  a  doleful  tone  that  excited 
the  laughter  of  the  company.  They  all  lay  down  again,  in  a 
field  of  stubble,  and  for  all  that  three  men  were  killed  in  quick 
succession.  It  was  pandemonium  let  loose  up  there  on  the 
heights;  the  projectiles  from  Saint-Menges,  Fleigneux,  and 
Givonne  fell  in  such  numbers  that  the  ground  fairly  seemed  to 
smoke,  as  it  does  at  times  under  a  heavy  shower  of  rain.  It 
was  clear  that  the  position  could  not  be  maintained  unless 
artillery  was  dispatched  at  once  to  the  support  of  the  troops 
who  had  been  sent  on  such  a  hopeless  undertaking.  General 
Douay,  it  was  said,  had  given  instructions  to  bring  up  two  bat- 


272  THE  DOWNFALL 

teries  of  the  reserve  artillery,  and  the  men  were  every  moment 
turning  their  heads,  watching  anxiously  for  the  guns  that  did 
not  come. 

"It  is  absurd,  ridiculous!"  declared  Beaudoin,  who  was 
again  fidgeting  up  and  down  before  the  company.  "Who  ever 
heard  of  placing  a  regiment  in  the  air  like  this  and  giving  it  no 
support!"  Then,  observing  a  slight  depression  on  their  left, 
he  turned  to  Rochas:  "Don't  you  think,  Lieutenant,  that  the 
company  would  be  safer  there?" 

Rochas  stood  stock  still  and  shrugged  his  shoulders.  "It 
is  six  of  one  and  half  a  dozen  of  the  other,  Captain.  My  opin- 
ion is  that  we  will  do  better  to  stay  where  we  are." 

Then  the  captain,  whose  principles  were  opposed  to  swear- 
ing, forgot  himself. 

"But,  good  God!  there  won't  a  man  of  us  escape!  We 
can't  allow  the  men  to  be  murdered  like  this!" 

And  he  determined  to  investigate  for  himself  the  advantages 
of  the  position  he  had  mentioned,  but  had  scarcely  taken  ten 
steps  when  he  was  lost  to  sight  in  the  smoke  of  an  exploding 
shell;  a  splinter  of  the  projectile  had  fractured  his  right  leg. 
He  fell  upon  his  back,  emitting  a  shrill  cry  of  alarm,  like  a 
woman's. 

"He  might  have  known  as  much,"  Rochas  muttered. 
"There's  no  use  his  making  such  a  fuss  over  it;  when  the  dose 
is  fixed  for  one,  he  has  to  take  it." 

Some  members  of  the  company  had  risen  to  their  feet  on  see- 
ing their  captain  fall,  and  as  he  continued  to  call  lustily  for 
assistance,  Jean  finally  ran  to  him,  immediately  followed  by 
Maurice. 

"Friends,  friends,  for  Heaven's  sake  do  not  leave  me  here; 
carry  me  to  the  ambulance!" 

"Dame,  Captain,  I  don't  know  that  we  shall  be  able  to  get  so 
far,  but  we  can  try." 

As  they  were  discussing  how  they  could  best  take  hold  to 
raise  him  they  perceived,  behind  the  hedge  that  had  sheltered 
them  on  their  way  up,  two  stretcher-bearers  who  seemed  to  be 
waiting  for  something  to  do,  and  finally,  after  protracted  sig- 
naling, induced  them  to  draw  near.  All  would  be  well  if  they 
could  only  get  the  wounded  man  to  the  ambulance  without 
accident,  but  the  way  was  long  and  the  iron  hail  more  pitiless 
than  ever. 

The  bearers  had  tightly  bandaged  the  injured  limb  in  order 
to  keep  the  bones  in  position  and  were  about  to  bear  the  cap- 


THE  DOWNFALL  273 

4 

tain  off  the  field  on  what  children  call  a  "chair,"  formed  by 
joining  their  hands  and  slipping  an  arm  of  the  patient  over  each 
of  their  necks,  when  Colonel  de  Vineuil,  who  had  heard  of  the 
accident,  came  up,  spurring  his  horse.  He  manifested  much 
emotion,  for  he  had  known  the  young  man  ever  since  his 
graduation  from  Saint-Cyr. 

"Cheer  up,  my  poor  boy;  have  courage.  You  are  in  no 
danger;  the  doctors  will  save  your  leg." 

The  captain's  face  wore  an  expression  of  resignation,  as  if 
he  had  summoned  up  all  his  courage  to  bear  his  misfortune 
manfully. 

"No,  my  dear  Colonel;  I  feel  it  is  all  up  with  me,  and  I 
would  rather  have  it  so.  The  only  thing  that  distresses  me  is 
the  waiting  for  the  inevitable  end." 

The  bearers  carried  him  away,  and  were  fortunate  enough  to 
reach  the  hedge  in  safety,  behind  which  they  trotted  swiftly 
away  with  their  burden.  The  colonel's  eyes  followed  them 
anxiously,  and  when  he  saw  them  reach  the  clump  of  trees 
where  the  ambulance  was  stationed  a  look  of  deep  relief  rose 
to  his  face. 

"But  you,  Colonel,"  Maurice  suddenly  exclaimed,  "you  are 
wounded  too!" 

He  had  perceived  blood  dripping  from  the  colonel's  left 
boot.  A  projectile  of  some  description  had  carried  away  the 
heel  of  the  foot-covering  and  forced  the  steel  shank  into  the 
flesh. 

M.  de  Vineuil  bent  over  his  saddle  and  glanced  unconcern- 
edly at  the  member,  in  which  the  sensation  at  that  time  must 
have  been  far  from  pleasurable. 

"Yes,  yes,"  he  replied,  "it  is  a  little  remembrance  that  I 
received  a  while  ago.  A  mere  scratch,  that  don't  prevent  me 

from  sitting  my  horse "  And  he  added,  as  he  turned  to 

resume  his  position  to  the  rear  of  his  regiment .  ''As  long  as  a 
man  can  stick  on  his  horse  he's  all  right." 

At  last  the  two  batteries  of  reserve  artillery  came  up.  Their 
arrival  was  an  immense  relief  to  the  anxiously  expectant  men, 
as  if  the  guns  were  to  be  a  rampart  of  protection  to  them  and 
at  the  same  time  demolish  the  hostile  batteries  that  were  thun- 
dering against  them  from  every  side.  And  then,  too,  it  was  in 
itself  an  exhilarating  spectacle  to  see  the  magnificent  order  they 
preserved  as  they  came  dashing  up,  each  gun  followed  by  its 
caisson,  the  drivers  seated  on  the  near  horse  and  holding  the 
off  horse  by  the  bridle,  the  cannoneers  bolt  upright  on  the 


274  THE  DOWNFALL 

chests,  the  chiefs  of  detachment  riding  in  their  proper  position 
on  the  flank.  Distances  were  preserved  as  accurately  as  if  they 
were  on  parade,  and  all  the  time  they  were  tearing  across  the 
fields  at  headlong  speed,  with  the  roar  and  crash  of  a  hurricane. 

Maurice,  who  had  lain  down  again,  arose  and  said  to  Jean 
in  great  excitement : 

"Look!  over  there  on  the  left,  that  is  Honore's  battery.  I 
can  recognize  the  men." 

Jean  gave  him  a  back-handed  blow  that  brought  him  down 
to  his  recumbent  position. 

"Lie  down,  will  you!   and  make  believe  dead!" 

But  they  were  both  deeply  interested  in  watching  the  maneu- 
vers of  the  battery,  and  never  once  removed  their  eyes  from  it; 
it  cheered  their  heart  to  witness  the  cool  and  intrepid  activity 
of  those  men,  who,  they  hoped,  might  yet  bring  victory  to  them. 

The  battery  had  wheeled  into  position  on  a  bare  summit  to 
the  left,  where  it  brought  up  all  standing;  then,  quick  as  a 
flash,  the  cannoneers  leaped  from  the  chests  and  unhooked  the 
limbers,  and  the  drivers,  leaving  the  gun  in  position,  drove 
fifteen  yards  to  the  rear,  where  they  wheeled  again  so  as  to 
bring  team  and  limber  face  to  the  enemy  and  there  remained, 
motionless  as  statues.  In  less  time  than  it  takes  to  tell  it  the 
guns  were  in  place,  with  the  proper  intervals  between  them, 
distributed  into  three  sections  of  two  guns  each,  each  section 
commanded  by  a  lieutenant,  and  over  the  whole  a  captain,  a 
long  maypole  of  a  man,  who  made  a  terribly  conspicuous  land- 
mark on  the  plateau.  And  this  captain,  having  first  made  a 
brief  calculation,  was  heard  to  shout: 

"Sight  for  sixteen  hundred  yards!" 

Their  fire  was  to  be  directed  upon  a  Prussian  battery, 
screened  by  some  bushes,  to  the  left  of  Fleigneux,  the  shells 
from  which  were  rendering  the  position  of  the  Calvary  unten- 
able. 

"Honore's  piece,  you  see,"  Maurice  began  again^  whose 
excitement  was  such  that  he  could  not  keep  still,  "Honore's 
piece  is  in  the  center  section.  There  he  is  now,  bending  over 
to  speak  to  the  gunner;  you  remember  Louis,  the  gunner, 
don't  you?  the  little  fellow  with  whom  we  had  a  drink  at 
Vouziers?  And  that  fellow  in  the  rear,  who  sits  so  straight  on 
his  handsome  chestnut,  is  Adolphe,  the  driver " 

First  came  the  gun  with  its  chief  and  six  cannoneers,  then 
the  limber  with  its  four  horses  ridden  by  two  men,  beyond  that 
the  caisson  with  its  six  horses  and  three  drivers,  still  further  to 


THE  DOWNFALL  275 

the  rear  were  the  prolonge,  forge,  and  battery  wagon ;  and  this 
array  of  men,  horses  and  materiel  extended  to  the  rear  in  a 
straight  unbroken  line  of  more  than  a  hundred  yards  in  length; 
to  say  nothing  of  the  spare  caisson  and  the  men  and  beasts  who 
were  to  fill  the  places  of  those  removed  by  casualties,  .who  were 
stationed  at  one  side,  as  much  as  possible  out  of  the  enemy's 
line  of  fire. 

And  now  Honore  was  attending  to  the  loading  of  his  gun. 
The  two  men  whose  duty  it  was  to  fetch  the  cartridge  and  the 
projectile  returned  from  the  caisson,  where  the  corporal  and 
the  artificer  were  stationed;  two  other  cannoneers,  standing  at 
the  muzzle  of  the  piece,  slipped  into  the  bore  the  cartridge,  a 
charge  of  powder  in  an  envelope  of  serge,  and  gently  drove  it 
home  with  the  rammer,  then  in  like  manner  introduced  the 
shell,  the  studs  of  which  creaked  faintly  in  the  spirals  of  the 
rifling.  When  the  primer  was  inserted  in  the  vent  and  all  was 
in  readiness,  Honore  thought  he  would  like  to  point  the  gun 
himself  for  the  first  shot,  and  throwing  himself  in  a  semi- 
recumbent  posture  on  the  trail,  working  with  one  hand  the 
screw  that  regulated  the  elevation,  with  the  other  he  signaled 
continually  to  the  gunner,  who,  standing  behind  him,  moved 
the  piece  by  imperceptible  degrees  to  right  or  left  with  the 
assistance  of  the  lever. 

"That  ought  to  be  about  right,"  he  said  as  he  arose. 

The  captain  came  up,  and  stooping  until  his  long  body  was 
bent  almost  double,  verified  the  elevation.  At  each  gun  stood 
the  assistant  gunner,  waiting  to  pull  the  lanyard  that  should 
ignite  the  fulminate  by  means  of  a  serrated  wire.  And  the 
orders  were  given  in  succession,  deliberately,  by  number: 

"Number  one,  Fire!     Number  two,  Fire!" 

Six  reports  were  heard,  the  guns  recoiled,  and  while  they 
were  being  brought  back  to  position  the  chiefs  of  detachment 
observed  the  effect  of  the  shots  and  found  that  the  range  was 
short.  They  made  the  necessary  correction  and  the  evolution 
was  repeated,  in  exactly  the  same  manner  as  before;  and  it  was 
that  cool  precision,  that  mechanical  routine  of  duty,  without 
agitation  and  without  haste,  that  did  so  much  to  maintain  the 
morale  of  the  men.  They  were  a  little  family,  united  by  the 
tie  of  a  common  occupation,  grouped  around  the  gun,  which 
they  loved  and  reverenced  as  if  it  had  been  a  living  thing;  it 
was  the  object  of  all  their  care  and  attention,  to  it  all  else  was 
subservient,  men,  horses,  caisson,  everything.  Thence  also 
arose  the  spirit  of  unity  and  cohesion  that  animated  the  battery 


276  A£&£  DO WNFALL 

at  large,  making  all  its  members  work  together  for  the  common 
glory  and  the  common  good,  like  a  well-regulated  household. 

The  io6th  had  cheered  lustily  at  the  completion  of  the"  first 
round;  they  were  going  to  make  those  bloody  Prussian  guns 
shut  their  mouths  at  last!  but  their  elation  was  succeeded  by 
dismay  when  it  was  seen  that  the  projectiles  fell  short,  many  of 
them  bursting  in  the  air  and  .never  reaching  the  fjftfnes  fnat 
served  to  mask  the  enemy's  artillery.  ^  * l  ,  r 

'  '  Honore, ' '  Maurice  continued,  '  'sajfs  $iat  all '  tji^  ( oilier 
pieces  are  popguns  and  that  his  old  girl  is  the'  only  oae.inatjs 
good  for  anything.  Ah,  his  old  girl !  He  talks  as  if,  she.  were 
his  wife  and  there  were  not  another  like  her  in  the  world! 
Just  notice  how  jealously  he  watches  her  and  makes  the  men 
clean  her  off!  I  suppose  he  is  afraid  she  will  overheat ?hersclf 
and  take  cold  !'* 

He  continued  rattling  on  in  this  pleasant  vein  to  Jean, both 
of  them  cheered  and  encouraged  by  the  cool  bravery  with  which 
the  artillerymen  served  their  guns;  but  the  Prussian  batteries, 

fter  firing  three  rounds,  had  now  got  the  range,  which,  too 
ng  at  the  beginning,  they  had  at  last  ciphered  down  to  such  a 
fine  point  that  their  shells  were  landed  invariably  among  the 
Trench  pieces,  while  the  latter,  notwithstanding  the  efforts  that 
were  made  to  increase  their  range,  still  continued  to  place  their 
projectiles  short  of  the  enemy's  position.  One  of  Honore's 
cannoneers  was  killed  while  loading  the  piece;  the  others  pushed 
.the  body  out  of  their  way,  and  the  service  went  oil  with  the 
same  methodical  precision,  with  neither  more  nor  less  nas^e.  In 
the  m.idstpf  the  projectiles  that  fell  and  burst  continually  the 
same  unvarying  rhythmical  movements  went  on  uninterruptedly 
about  the, gun;  the  partridge  and  shell  were  introduced,  the  gun 
was  pointep,  "the" ^lanyard  pulled,  the  carriage  brought  back  to 
place;  and  alt  ^w^h^such  undeviating  regularity  that  the  men 
in igrit  have  been  taken  for  automatons,  devoid  of  sight  ;imt 
hearing. 

What  impressed  Maurice,  however,  more  than  anything  else, 
was  the  attitude  of  the  drivers,  sitting  straight  and  stiff  in  their 
saddles  fifteen  yards  to  the  rear,  face  to  the  enemy.  There  was 
Adolphe,  the  broad-chested,  with  his  big  blond  mustache 
across  jiis,  rulpicund  face;  and  who  shall  tell  the  amount  of 
courage  a  man  must  have  to  enable  him  to  sit  without  winking 
and  watch  the  shells  coming  toward  him,  and  he  not  allowed 
eYen^twirltJiis  thumbs  by  way  of  diversion!  The  men  who 
served  me  guns'  Had  something  to  occupy  their  minds,  whiltTthe 


DO  WNF&LL  277 

drivers,  condemned  to  immobility,  had  death  constantly  before 
their  eyes,  and  plenty'  of  leisure  to  speculate  on  probabilities.';; 
They  were  made  to  face  the  battlefield  because]  haid  they* 
turned  their  backs  to  it,  the  coward  that  so  often  lurks  >a\  the 
bottorn  of  man's  nature  might  have  got  the  better  of  tfreifr  ttftdj 
swept  away  man  and  beast.  It  is  the  unseed  danger  th'at  rtraikesi 
dastards  of  us;  th'at  which  we  Can  see  we  &rave;'  The  army' 
has:hO  more  gallant  set  of  frien  in  its  rsLnks-'than'the  drivers  in- 
their  obscure  position. 


had  beeri  killed,  two  horses  ofia  caisson1^  Had 
been  disemboweled,  and  the  enemy  kept  up  such  a  murderous- 
fire1  that  there  *  iwtls  a'  prospect  of  'the  entire  battery  'hieing 
knocked  to  pieces  should  they  persist  in  holding  that  position1 
lon^er;>:tlt  Wa^  tirrfe  t<>  ;take  '  some  Step  to  baffle  that  trenien- 
dous  fire,  noiwithstahdirig  the  danger  there  was  in  moving^antH 
the  captain  'unhesitatingly  gave  orders  to  bring  up  the  limbers-. 

The"  risky  'maneuver  was  executed  with  lightning  speed;  the 
drivers  came  up  at  a'  gallop,  wheeled  their  limber  int6  position 
in  rear  of"  the  gun,  wneh'the  cannoneers  raised  the  trail  of  the 
piece  and  hooked  oh.  '  Trie  movement,  however,  collecting  as 
it  did,  momentarily,  men  and  horses  on  the  battery  front  iri 
something  of  a  huddle,  created  a  certain  degree  of1  donfusion, 
of  which  the  enemy  took  advantage  by  increasing  the  rapidity 
of  their  fire;  three1  more  men  dropped.  The  teams  darted 
away  at  breakneck  'Speed;  describing  an  arc  of  ;a  circle  among 
the  fields,  and  the  battery  took'  up1  its  fiew  pb&tioii  Sttiiie^  fifty 
or  sixty  yards  more  to'  the  right,  on  a  gentle  eitiine  rice  that  was 
situated  on  the  other  flank  of  the  io6thf.  The  pieces  ^were 
unlimbered,  the  drivers  'resumed  their  station  at  the  'te'ar,?  face 
to  the  enemy,  and  the  firirig'was  reoperted;  and  So  little  time 
was  lost  between  leaving  their  old  post  and  taking1  up  themew 
that  the  earth  had  barely  ceased  to  tremble  under  the  coiiGtis- 
sion. 

Maurice  uttefed  a-  cry  of  dismay,  when,  after  three  attempts, 
the  Prussians  Had  again  got  their  range;  the  first  shell  landed 
squarely  on  Honor's  gun.  'The  'artilleryman  rushed  forward, 
and  'with  a  trembling  hand  felt  to  'ascertain  ^what  damage  had 
been  done  his  pet;  a  great  wedge  had1  been  chipped  from  i  the 
bronze  muzzle.  But  it  was  not  disabled,  and  the  work  went 
on  as  before,  after  they  had  removed  from  beneath  therwheds 
the  body  of  another  cannoneer,  wita  whos^t>tooidvth^G€ntire 
car  riage  "Was  besplash  ed  .  '  f  -> 

not  -little  Tidiiis;  I  anvgkd  of-  tha^saitf  Mfttiriti, 


278  THE  DOWNFALL 

continuing  to  think  aloud.  "There  he  is  now,  pointing  his 
gun;  he  must  be  wounded,  though,  for  he  is  only  using  his  left 
arm.  Ah,  he  is  a  brave  lad,  is  little  Louis;  and  how  well  he 
and  Adolphe  get  on  together,  in  spite  of  their  little  tiffs,  only 
provided  the  gunner,  the  man  who  serves  on  foot,  shows  a 
proper  amount  of  respect  for  the  driver,  the  man  who  rides  a 
horse,  notwithstanding  that  the  latter  is  by  far  the  more  igno- 
rant of  the  two.  Now  that  they  are  under  fire,  though,  Louis 
is  as  good  a  man  as  Adolphe ' 

Jean,  who  had  been  watching  events  in  silence,  gave  utter- 
ance to  a  distressful  cry : 

"They  will  have  to  give  it  up!  No  troops  in  the  world 
could  stand  such  a  fire." 

Within  the  space  of  five  minutes  the  second  position  had 
become  as  untenable  as  was  the  first;  the  projectiles  kept  fall- 
ing with  the  same  persistency,  the  same  deadly  precision.  A 
shell  dismounted  a  gun,  fracturing  the  chase,  killing  a  lieuten- 
ant and  two  men.  Not  one  of  the  enemy's  shots  failed  to 
reach,  and  at  each  discharge  they  secured  a  still  greater  accu- 
racy of  range,  so  that  if  the  battery  should  remain  there  another 
five  minutes  they  would  not  have  a  gun  or  a  man  left.  The 
crushing  fire  threatened  to  wipe  them  all  out  of  existence. 

Again  the  captain's  ringing  voice  was  heard  ordering  up  the 
limbers.  The  drivers  dashed  up  at  a  gallop  and  wheeled  their 
teams  into  place  to  allow  the  cannoneers  to  hook  on  the  guns, 
but  before  Adolphe  had  time  to  get  up  Louis  was  struck  by  a 
fragment  of  shell  that  tore  open  his  throat  and  broke  his  jaw; 
he  fell  across  the  trail  of  the  carriage  just  as  he  was  on  the 
point  of  raising  it.  Adolphe  was  there  instantly,  and  behold- 
ing his  prostrate  comrade  weltering  in  his  blood,  jumped  from 
his  horse  and  was  about  to  raise  him  to  his  saddle  and  bear  him 
away.  And  at  that  moment,  just  as  the  battery  was  exposed 
flank  to  the  enemy  in  the  act  of  wheeling,  offering  a  fair  target, 
a  crashing  discharge  came,  and  Adolphe  reeled  and  fell  to  the 
ground,  his  chest  crushed  in,  with  arms  wide  extended.  In  his 
supreme  convulsion  he  seized  his  comrade  about  the  body,  and 
thus  they  lay,  locked  in  each  other's  arms  in  a  last  embrace, 
"married"  even  in  death. 

Notwithstanding  the  slaughtered  horses  and  the  confusion 
that  that  death-dealing  discharge  had  caused  among  the  men, 
the  battery  had  rattled  up  the  slope  of  a  hillock  and  taken  post 
a  few  yards  from  the  spot  where  Jean  and  Maurice  were  lying. 
For  the  third  time  the  guns  were  unlimbered,  the  drivers  retired 


THE  DOWNFALL  279 

to  the  rear  and  faced  the  enemy,  and  the  cannoneers,  with 
a  gallantry  that  nothing  could  daunt,  at  once  reopened 
fire. 

"It  is  as  if  the  end  of  all  things  were  at  hand!"  said  Mau- 
rice, the  sound  of  whose  voice  was  lost  in  the  uproar. 

It  Deemed  indeed  as  if  heaven  and  earth  were  confounded 
in  that  hideous  din.  Great  rocks  were  cleft  asunder,  the  sun 
was  hid  from  sight  at  times  in  clouds  of  sulphurous  vapor. 
When  the  cataclysm  was  at  its  height  the  horses  stood  with 
drooping  heads,  trembling,  dazed  with  terror.  The  captain's 
tall  form  was  everywhere  upon  the  eminence;  suddenly  he  was 
seen  no  more;  a  shell  had  cut  him  clean  in  two,  and  he  sank, 
as  a  ship's  mast  that  is  snapped  off  at  the  base. 

But  it  was  about  Honore's  gun,  even  more  than  the  others, 
that  the  conflict  raged,  with  cool  efficiency  and  obstinate 
determination.  The  non-commissioned  officer  found  it  neces- 
sary to  forget  his  chevrons  for  the  time  being  and  lend  a  hand 
in  working  the  piece,  for  he  had  now  but  three  cannoneers  left; 
he  pointed  the  gun  and  pulled  the  lanyard,  while  the  others 
brought  ammunition  from  the  caisson,  loaded,  and  handled  the 
rammer  and  the  sponge.  He  had  sent  for  men  and  horses  from 
the  battery  reserves  that  were  kept  to  supply  the  places  of  those 
removed  by  casualties,  but  they  were  slow  in  coming,  and  in 
the  meantime  the  survivors  must  do  the  work  of  the  dead.  It 
was  a  great  discouragement  to  all  that  their  projectiles  ranged 
short  and  burst  almost  without  exception  in  the  air,  inflicting 
no  injury  on  the  powerful  batteries  of  the  foe,  the  fire  of  which 
was  so  efficient.  And  suddenly  Honore  let  slip  an  oath  that 
was  heard  above  the  thunder  of  the  battle;  ill-luck,  ill-luck, 
nothing  but  ill-luck!  the  right  wheel  of  his  piece  was  smashed! 
Tonnerrc  de  Dieu !  what  a  state  she  was  in,  the  poor  darling! 
stretched  on  her  side  with  a  broken  paw,  her  nose  buried  in  the 
ground,  crippled  and  good  for  nothing!  The  sight  brought  big 
tears  to  his  eyes,  he  laid  his  trembling  hand  upon  the  breech, 
as  if  the  ardor  of  his  love  might  avail  to  warm  his  dear  mistress 
back  to  life.  And  the  best  gun  of  them  all,  the  only  one  that 
had  been  able  to  drop  a  few  shells  among  the  enemy!  Then 
suddenly  he  conceived  a  daring  project,  nothing  less  than  to 
repair  the  injury  there  and  then,  under  that  terrible  fire.  As- 
sisted by  one  of  his  men  he  ran  back  to  the  caisson  and  secured 
the  spare  wheel  that  was  attached  to  the  rear  axle,  and  then 
commenced  the  most  dangerous  operation  that  can  be  executed 
on  a  battlefield.  Fortunately  the  extra  men  and  horses  that 


2&>.  THE  DQlVNFJ.f.L 

he  had  sent  for  came  up  Just  then,  and  he  had  two  cannoneers 
tp  lend  him  a  hand/ 

For  the  third  time,  however,  the  strength  of  the  battery^was^ 
so  reduced  as  practically  to  disable  it.     To  push  their  heroic 


sire  is  fit  for  no  further  service  we'll  carry  her  off;"  those?  fel- 
lows shan't  have  her  !  '  ' 

To  save  the  gun,  even  as  men  risk  their  life  to  save  the  "flag; 
that  was  his  idea.'  And  he  had  not  leased  to  speak  wTieii  fre 
was'  stricken  down  as  by  a  thunderbolt,  his  right  arm  torn  from 
its  socket,  his  left  flank  laid  open.  He  had  fallen  upon  rmV 
gun  he  loved  so  well,  and  lay  there  as  if  stretched  on  a  bed  of 
honor,  with  head  erect,  his  unmutilated  face  'turned  toward  the 
enemy,  and  bearing  an  expression  of  proud  defiance  that  made 
him  beautiful  in  death.  From  his  torn  Jacket  a  letter  h  ad  f  alien 
to  the  ground  and  lay  in  the  pool  of  blood  that  dribbled  slowly 
from  above. 

The  only  lieutenant  left  alive  Shouted  the  ortler^ 

"Eking  up  the  limbers!" 

"'  r^  ^'1 


A  caisson  had  exploded  "'  with  arToar^that 
rPhey  were  obliged  to  take  the  horses  from'  aridtheT  caisson  in' 
order  to  save  a  gun  of  whfch  the  team  had  "beerf  killed.  Arid 
when,  for  the  last  time,  the  drivers  had  brought  up  their  smok- 
ing horses  and  trie  guns  had  been  limbered  iip,  the  whole  bat- 
tery flew  away  at  a  gallop  and  never  stopped  until  they  reached 
the  edge  of  the  wood  of  la  Garenne,  rie'arly  twelve  hundred 
yards  away. 

Ivtaurice  had  seen  the  whole.  'He  shivered  with  horror,  and 
murmured  mechanically,  in  a  faint  voice: 

"Oh!  poor  fellow,  poor  fellow!"   : 

In  addition  to  this;  feeling  of  mental  distress/lie  had^ritiffH 
ble  sensation  of  physical  suffering,  as  if  something  was  gnawing 
at  his  vitals..  It  was  the  animal  portion  of  his  nature  asserting 
itself;  he  was  at  the  end  of  his  endurance,  was  ready  to"  sink 
with  hunger.  His  perceptions  were  dimmed,  he  was  not'  even 
conscious  of  the  dangerous  position  the  regiment  was  in  now  it 
no.  longer  was  protected  by  the  battery.  It  was  more  than 
likely  that  the  enemy  would  not  long  delay  to  attack  the  plateau 
in  force. 

"Look  here,"  he  said  to  Jean,  "I  must  eat—  if  I  am  to  be 
killed  for  it  the  next  minute,  I  must  eat." 

-  •  -     *  iv 


THE  no 

I  He  opened  his  knapsack  and,, takipg  out  tjie,breiad^v,ithrsha^- 
ing  hands,"  set  his  teeth  in  it  voraciously.  The  bullets  were 
whistling  above  their  heads,  two  shells  exploded  only,  a  few 
yards  away,  but  all  was  as  naught  to  him  in; comparison  with 
his  craving  hunger.  _  ^m  <fi  :»vlo*n  ft*  tftiw  a&w 

Will  you  have  some,  Jean?.  <:j  rit>.,oldj  Dy^^q  .B  w-d  o 

The  corporal  was  watching  him  with  hungry  eyes  and  a  stupid 
expression  on  his  face;  his  stomach  was  also  twinging  him. 

"Yes,  I  don't  ^reii"':!  (dq;  this  suffering  is  more  than  I  can 


k«       '"i  jtiJl"    *->Of     '    M'YifM'^'       M"-^T    I'ftiy.'it    YFJii 

They  divided  the  loaf  between  them  and  each,  devpurejd  his 
portion  gluttonously,  unmindful  of  what  was  going  on.  about 
them  so  long  as  a  crumb  remained.  And  it  was  at  that  time 
that  they  saw  their  colonel  for  the  last .  ii'me^'  sitting  jhis^bfig 
horse,  with  his  blood-stained  boot.  ,  The  regiment  was  sur- 
rounded on  every  side ;  already  some  of  the  companies  had  left 
the  field.  Then,  unable  longer  to  restrain  their, -flight,  with 
tears  standing  in  his  eyes  and  raising  his  sword  above  ;his  head:; 

"My  children,"  cried  M.  de  Vineuil,  "I  commend  you  tp 
the  protection  of  God,  who  thus  far  has  spared  us  all!" 

tie  rode  off  down  the  hill,  surrounded  by  a  swarrn,of  fugi- 
tives, and  vanished  from  their  sight. 

Then,  they  knew  not  how,  Maurice  and  Jean- found  th fin- 
selves  once  rqore  behind  the  hedge,  with  the  remnant  of  their 
company.  Some  forty  men  at  the.  o.utside  were  all  that 
remained,  with  Lieutenant  Rochas  as  their  commander,  and 
the  regimental  standard  was  with  them;  the  subaltern  who 
carried  it  had  furled  the  silk  about  the  staff  in  order  to  try  to 
save  it.  They  made  their  way  along  the  hedge,  as  far  as  it  ex- 
tended, to  a  cluster  of  small  trees  upon  a  hillside,  where  Rochas 
made  them  halt  and  reopen  fire.  The  men,  dispersed  in  skir- 
mishing order  and  sufficiently  protectedr  could  hold  their 
ground,  the  more  that  an  important  calvary  movement  was  in 
preparation  on  their  right  and  regiments  of  infantry  were  being 
brought  up  to  support  it. 

,  It  was  at  that  moment  that  Maurice  comprehended  the  full 
scope  of  that  mighty,  irresistible  turning  movement  that  was 
now  drawing  near  completion.  That  morning  he  had  watched 
the  Prussians  debouching  by.  the  Saint-Albert, pass  and  had 
seen  their  advanced  guard  pushed  forward,  first  to  Saint- 
Menges,  then  to  Fleigneux,  and  now,  behind  the  wood  qt  la- 
Garenne,  he  could  hear  the  thunder  of  the  artillery  of  the  Guard, 
could  behold  other  German  uniforms  arriving  on  the  scene  over, 


282  THE   DOWNFALL 

the  hills  of  Givonne.  Yet  a  few  moments,  it  might  be,  and 
the  circle  would  be  complete;  the  Guard  would  join  hands 
with  the  Vth  corps,  surrounding  the  French  army  with  a  living 
wall,  girdling  them  about  with  a  belt  of  flaming  artillery.  It 
was  with  the  resolve  to  make  one  supreme,  desperate  effort,  to 
try  to  hew  a  passage  through  that  advancing  wall,  that  General 
Margueritte's  division  of  the  reserve  cavalry  was  massing 
behind  a  protecting  crest  preparatory  to  charging.  They  were 
about  to  charge  into  the  jaws  of  death,  with  no  possibility  of 
achieving  any  useful  result,  solely  for  the  glory  of  France  and 
the  French  army.  And  Maurice,  whose  thoughts  turned  to 
Prosper,  was  a  witness  of  the  terrible  spectacle. 

What  between  the  messages  that  were  given  him  to  carry  and 
their  answers,  Prosper  had  been  kept  busy  since  daybreak 
spurring  up  and  down  the  plateau  of  Illy.  The  cavalrymen 
had  been  awakened  at  peep  of  dawn,  man  by  man,  without 
sound  of  trumpet,  and  to  make  their  morning  coffee  had 
devised  the  ingenious  expedient  of  screening  their  fires  with  a 
greatcoat  so  as  not  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  enemy. 
Then  there  came  a  period  when  they  were  left  entirely  to  them- 
selves, with  nothing  to  occupy  them;  they  seemed  to  be  for- 
gotten by  their  commanders.  They  could  hear  the  sound  of 
the  cannonading,  could  descry  the  puffs  of  smoke,  could  see 
the  distant  movements  of  the  infantry,  but  were  utterly  ignorant 
of  the  battle,  its  importance,  and  its  results.  Prosper,  as  far  as 
he  was  concerned,  was  suffering  from  want  of  sleep.  The 
cumulative  fatigue  induced  by  many  nights  of  broken  rest,  the 
invincible  somnolency  caused  by  the  easy  gait  of  his  mount, 
made  life  a  burden.  He  dreamed  dreams  and  saw  visions; 
now  he  was  sleeping  comfortably  in  a  bed  between  clean  sheets, 
now  snoring  on  the  bare  ground  among  sharpened  flints.  For 
minutes  at  a  time  he  would  actually  be  sound  asleep  in  his 
saddle,  a  lifeless  clod,  his  steed's  intelligence  answering  for 
both.  Under  such  circumstances  comrades  had  often  tumbled 
from  their  seats  upon  the  road.  They  were  so  fagged  that  when 
they  slept  the  trumpets  no  longer  awakened  them;  the  only 
way  to  rouse  them  from  their  lethargy  and  get  them  on  their 
feet  was  to  kick  them  soundly. 

"But  what  are  they  going  to  do,  what  are  they  going  to  do 
with  us?"  Prosper  kept  saying  to  himself.  It  was  the  only 
thing  he  could  think  of  to  keep  himself  awake. 

For  six  hours  the  cannon  had  been  thundering.  As  they 
climbed  a  hill  two  comrades,  riding  at  his  side,  had  been 


THE  DOWNFALL  283 

struck  down  by  a  shell,  and  as  they  rode  onward  seven  or  eight 
others  had  bit  the  dust,  pierced  by  rifle-balls  that  came  no  one 
could  say  whence.  It  was  becoming  tiresome,  that  slow 
parade,  as  useless  as  it  was  dangerous,  up  and  down  the  battle- 
field. At  last — it  was  about  one  o'clock — he  learned  that  it 
had  been  decided  they  were  to  be  killed  off  in  a  somewhat 
more  decent  manner.  Margueritte's  entire  division,  compris- 
ing three  regiments  of  chasseurs  d'Afrique,  one  of  chasseurs  de 
France,  and  one  of  hussars,  had  been  drawn  in  and  posted  in 
a  shallow  valley  a  little  to  the  south  of  the  Calvary  of  Illy. 
The  trumpets  had  sounded:  "Dismount!"  and  then  the  offi- 
cers' command  ran  down  the  line  to  tighten  girths  and  look  to 
packs. 

Prosper  alighted,  stretched  his  cramped  limbs,  and  gave 
Zephyr  a  friendly  pat  upon  the  neck.  Poor  Zephyr!  he  felt 
the  degradation  of  the  ignominious,  heartbreaking  service  they 
were  subjected  to  almost  as  keenly  as  his  master;  and  not  only 
th'at,  but  he  had  to  carry  a  small  arsenal  of  stores  and  imple- 
ments of  various  kinds:  the  holsters  stuffed  with  his  master's 
linen  and  underclothing  and  the  greatcoat  rolled  above,  the 
stable  suit,  blouse,  and  overalls,  and  the  sack  containing 
brushes,  currycomb,  and  other  articles  of  equine  toilet  behind 
the  saddle,  the  haversack  with  rations  slung  at  his  side,  to  say 
nothing  of  such  trifles  as  side-lines  and  picket-pins,  the  water- 
ing bucket  and  the  wooden  basin.  The  cavalryman's  tender 
heart  was  stirred  by  a  feeling  of  compassion,  as  he  tightened  up 
the  girth  and  looked  to  see  that  everything  was  secure  in  its 
place. 

It  was  a  trying  moment.  Prosper  was  no  more  a  coward 
than  the  next  man,  but  his  mouth  was  intolerably  dry  and  hot; 
he  lit  a  cigarette  in  the  hope  that  it  would  relieve  the  unpleas- 
ant sensation.  When  about  to  charge  no  man  can  assert  with 
any  degree  of  certainty  that  he  will  ride  back  again.  The  sus- 
pense lasted  some  five  or  six  minutes;  it  was  said  that  General 
Margueritte  had  ridden  forward  to  reconnoiter  the  ground  over 
which  they  were  to  charge;  they  were  awaiting  his  return. 
The  five  regiments  had  been  formed  in  three  columns,  each 
column  having  a  depth  of  seven  squadrons;  enough  to  afford 
an  ample  meal  to  the  hostile  guns. 

Presently  the  trumpets  rang  out:  "To  horse ! "  and  this  was 
succeeded  almost  immediately  by  the  shrill  summons:  "Draw 
sabers ! ' ' 

The  colonel  of  each  regiment  had  previously  ridden  out  and 


284  THE  DO  WNFALL 

taken  his  proper  position,  twenty-five  yards  to  the  front,  the 
captains  were  all  at  their  posts  at  the  head  of  their  squadrons. 
Then  there  was  another  period  of  anxious  waiting,  amid  a 
silence  heavy  as  that  of  death.  Not  a  sound,  not  a  breath, 
there,  beneath  the  blazing  sun;  nothing,  save  the  beating  of 
those  brave  hearts.  One  order  more,  the  supreme,  the  decisive 
one,  and  that  mass,  now  so  inert  and  motionless,  would  become 
a  resistless  tornado,  sweeping  all  before  it. 

At  that  juncture,  however,  an  officer  appeared  coming  over 
the  crest  of  the  hill  in  front,  wounded,  and  preserving  his  seat 
in  the  saddle  only  by  the  assistance  of  a  man  on  either  side. 
No  one  recognized  him  at  first,  but  presently  a  deep,  ominous 
murmur  began  to  run  from  squadron  to  squadron,  which 
quickly  swelled  into  a  furious  uproar.  It  was  General  Mar- 
gueritte,  who  had  received  a  wound  from  which  he  died  a  few 
days  later;  a  musket-ball  had  passed  through  both  cheeks,  car- 
rying away  a  portion  of  the  tongue  and  palate.  He  was  incap- 
able of  speech,  but  waved  his  arm  in  the  direction  of  the 
enemy.  The  fury  of  his  men  knew  no  bounds;  their  cries  rose 
louder  still  upon  the  air. 

"It  is  our  general!     Avenge  him,  avenge  him!" 

Then  the  colonel  of  the  first  regiment,  raising  aloft' his  saber, 
shouted  in  a  voice  of  thunder : 

"Charge!" 

The  trumpets  sounded,  the  column  broke  into  a  trot  and  was 
away.  Prosper  was  in  the  leading  squadron,  but  almost  at  the 
extreme  right  of  the  right  wing,  a  position  of  less  danger  than 
the  center,  upon  which  the  enemy  always  naturally  concentrate 
their  hottest  fire.  When  they  had  topped  the  summit  of  the 
Calvary  and  began  to  descend  the  slope  beyond  that  led 
downward  into  the  broad  plain  he  had  a  distinct  view,  some 
two-thirds  of  a  mile  away,  of  the  Prussian  squares  that  were  to 
be  the  object  of  their  attack.  Beside  that  vision  all  the  rest 
was  dim  and  confused  before  his  eyes;  he  moved  onward  as 
one  in  a  dream,  with  a  strange  ringing  in  his  ears,  a  sensation 
of  voidness  in  his  mind  that  left  him  incapable  of  framing  an 
idea.  He  was  a  part  of  the  great  engine  that  tore  along,  con- 
trolled by  a  superior  will.  The  command  ran  along  the  line: 
"Keep  touch  of  knees!  Keep  touch  of  knees!"  in  order  to 
keep  the  men  closed  up  and  give  their  ranks  the  resistance  and 
rigidity  of  a  wall  of  granite,  and  as  their  trot  became  swifter 
and  swifter  and  finally  broke  into  a  mad  gallop,  the  chasseurs 
gave  their  wilcl  Arab  cry  that  excited  their  wiry 


DOWNFALL  285 

steeds  to  the  verge  of  frenzy.  Onward  they  tore,  faster  and 
faster  still,  until  their  gallop  was  a  race  of  unchained  demons, 
their  shouts  the  shrieks  of  souls  in  mortal  agony;  onward  they 
plunged  amid  a  storm  of  bullets  that  rattled  on  casque  and 
breastplate,  on  buckle  and  scabbard,  with  a  sound  like  hail; 
into  the  bosom  of  that  hailstorm  flashed  that  thunderbolt 
beneath  which  the  earth  shook  and  trembled,. leaving  behind  it, 
as  it  passed,  an  odor  of  burned  woolen  and  the  exhalations  of 
wild  beasts. 

At  five  hundred  yards  the  line  wavered  an  instant,  then 
swirled  and  broke  in  a  frightful  eddy  that  brought  Prosper  to 
the  ground.  He  clutched  Zephyr  by  the  mane  and  succeeded 
in  recovering  his  seat.  The  center  had  given  way,  riddled, 
almost  annihilated  as  it  was  by  the  musketry  fire,  while  the  two 
wings  had  wheeled  and  ridden  back  a  little  way  to  renew  their 
formation.  It  was  the  foreseen,  foredoomed  destruction  of  the 
leading  squadron.  Disabled  horses  covered  the  ground,  some 
quiet  in  death,  but  many  struggling  violently  in  their  strong 
agony;  and  everywhere  dismounted  riders  could  be  seen,  run- 
ning as  fast  as  their  short  legs  would  let  them,  to  capture  them- 
selves another  mount.  Many  horses  that  had  lost  their  master 
came  galloping  br.ck  to  the  squadron  and  took  their  place  in 
line  of  their  own  accord,  to  rush  with  their  comrades  back  into 
the  fire  again,  as  if  there  was  some  strange  attraction  for  them 
in  the  smell  of  gunpowder.  The  charge  was  resumed;  the 
second  squadron  went  forward,  like  the  first,  at  a  constantly 
accelerated  rate  of  speed,  the  men  bending  upon  their  horses' 
neck,  holding  the  saber  along  the  thigh,  ready  for  use  upon  the 
enemy.  Two  hundred  yards  more  were  gained  this  time,  amid 
the  thunderous,  deafening  uproar,  but  again  the  center  broke 
under  the  storm  of  bullets;  men  and  horses  went  down  in 
heaps,  and  the  piled  corpses  made  an  insurmountable  barrier 
for  those  who  followed.  Thus  was  the  second  squadron  in  its 
turn  mown  down,  annihilated,  leaving  its  task  to  be  accom- 
plished by  those  who  came  after. 

When  for  the  third  time  the  men  were  called  upon  to  charge 
and  responded  with  invincible  heroism,  Prosper  found  that  his 
companions  were  principally  hussars  and  chasseurs  de  France. 
Regiments  and  squadrons,  as  organizations,  had  ceased  to 
exist;  their  constituent  elements  were  drops  in  the  mighty  wave 
that  alternately  broke  and  reared  its  crest  again,  to  swallow  up 
all  that  lay  in  its  destructive  path.  He  had  long  since  lost  dis- 
tinct consciousness  of  what  was  going  on  around  him,  and  suf- 


286  THE  DOWNFALL 

fered  his  movements  to  be  guided  by  his  mount,  faithful 
Zephyr,  who  had  received  a  wound  in  the  ear  that  seemed  to 
madden  him.  He  was  now  in  the  center,  where  all  about  him 
horses  were  rearing,  pawing  the  air,  and  falling  backward;  men 
were  dismounted  as  if  torn  from  their  saddle  by  the  blast  of  a 
tornado,  while  others,  shot  through  some  vital  part,  retained 
their  seat  and  rode  onward  in  the  ranks  with  vacant,  sightless 
eyes.  And  looking  back  over  the  additional  two  hundred 
yards  that  this  effort  had  won  for  them,  they  could  see  the 
field  of  yellow  stubble  strewn  thick  with  dead  and  dying. 
Some  there  were  who  had  fallen  headlong  from  their  saddle 
and  buried  their  face  in  the  soft  earth.  Others  had  alighted  on 
their  back  and  were  staring  up  into  the  sun  with  terror-stricken 
eyes  that  seemed  bursting  from  their  sockets.  There  was  a 
handsome  black  horse,  an  officer's  charger,  that  had  been  dis- 
emboweled, and  was  making  frantic  efforts  to  rise,  his  fore  feet 
entangled  in  his  entrails.  Beneath  the  fire,  that  became  con- 
stantly more  murderous  as  they  drew  nearer,  the  survivors  in 
the  wings  wheeled  their  horses  and  fell  back  to  concentrate 
their  strength  for  a  fresh  onset. 

Finally  it  was  the  fourth  squadron,  which,  on  the  fourth 
attempt,  reached  the  Prussian  lines.  Prosper  made  play  with 
his  saber,  hacking  away  at  helmets  and  dark  uniforms  as  well  as 
he  could  distinguish  them,  for  all  was  dim  before  him,  as  in  a 
dense  mist.  Blood  flowed  in  torrents;  Zephyr's  mouth  was 
smeared  with  it,  and  to  account  for  it  he  said  to  himself  that  the 
good  horse  must  have  been  using  his  teeth  on  the  Prussians. 
The  clamor  around  him  became  so  great  that  he  could  not  hear 
his  ovfn.  voice,  although  his  throat  seemed  splitting  from  the 
yells  that  issued  from  it.  But  behind  the  first  Prussian  line  there 
was  another,  and  then  another,  and  then  another  still.  Their 
gallant  efforts  went  for  nothing;  those  dense  masses  of  men 
were  like  a  tangled  jungle  that  closed  around  the  horses  and 
riders  who  entered  it  and  buried  them  in  its  rank  growths. 
They  might  hew  down  those  who  were  within  reach  of  their 
sabers;  others  stood  ready  to  take  their  place,  the  last  squad- 
rons were  lost  and  swallowed  up  in  their  vast  numbers.  The 
firing,  at  point-blank  range,  was  so  furious  that  the  men's 
clothing  was  ignited.  Nothing  could  stand  before  it,  all  went 
down;  and  the  work  that  it  left  unfinished  was  completed  by 
bayonet  and  musket  butt.  Of  the  brave  men  who  rode  into 
action  that  day  two-thirds  remained  upon  the  battlefield,  and 
the  sole  end  achieved  by  that  mad  charge  was  to  add  another 


THE  DOWNFALL  287 

glorious  page  to  history.  And  then  Zephyr,  struck  by  a 
musket-ball  full  in  the  chest,  dropped  in  a  heap,  crushing 
beneath  him  Prosper's  right  thigh;  and  the  pain  was  so  acute 
that  the  young  man  fainted. 

Maurice  and  Jean,  who  had  watched  the  gallant  effprt  with 
burning  interest,  uttered  an  exclamation  of  rage. 

" Tonnerre  de  Dieu  !  what  bravery  wasted!" 

And  they  resumed  their  firing  from  among  the  trees  of  the 
low  hill  where  they  were  deployed  in  skirmishing  order. 
Rochas  himself  had  picked  up  an  abandoned  musket  and  was 
blazing  away  with  the  rest.  But  the  plateau  of  Illy  was  lost  to 
them  by  this  time  beyond  hope  of  recovery;  the  Prussians  were 
pouring  in  upon  it  from  every  quarter.  It  was  somewhere  in 
the  neighborhood  of  two  o'clock,  and  their  great  movement 
was  accomplished;  the  Vth  corps  and  the  Guards  had  effected 
their  junction,  the  investment  of  the  French  army  was  complete. 

Jean  was  suddenly  brought  to  the  ground. 

"I  am  done  for,"  he  murmured. 

He  had  received  what  seemed  to  him  like  a  smart  blow  of  a 
hammer  on  the  crown  of  his  head,  and  his  ke*pi  lay  behind  him 
with  a  great  furrow  plowed  through  its  top.  At  first  he  thought 
that  the  bullet  had  certainly  penetrated  the  skull  and  laid  bare 
the  brain;  his  dread  of  finding  a  yawning  orifice  there  was  so 
great  that  for  some  seconds  he  dared  not  raise  his  hand  to 
ascertain  the  truth.  When  finally  he  ventured,  his  fingers,  on 
withdrawing  them,  were  red  with  an  abundant  flow  of  blood, 
and  the  pain  was  so  intense  that  he  fainted. 

Just  then  Rochas  gave  the  order  to  fall  back.  The  Prus- 
sians had  crept  up  on  them  and  were  only  two  or  three  hundred 
yards  away;  they  were  in  danger  of  being  captured. 

"Be  cool,  don't  hurry;  face  about  and  give  'em  another 
;hot.  Rally  behind  that  low  wall  that  you  see  down  there." 

Maurice  was  in  despair;  he  knew  not  what  to  do. 

"We  are  not  going  to  leave  our  corporal  behind,  are  we, 
lieutenant?" 

"What  are  we  to  do?  he  has  turned  up  his  toes." 

"No,  no!   he  is  breathing  still.     Take  him  along!" 

Rochas  shrugged  his  shoulders  as  if  to  say  they  could  not 
bother  themselves  for  every  man  that  dropped.  A  wounded 
man  is  esteemed  of  little  value  on  the  battlefield.  Then  Mau- 
rice addressed  his  supplications  to  Lapoulle  and  Pache. 

"Come,  give  me  a  helping  hand.  I  am  not  strong  enough 
to  carry  him  unassisted." 


288  THE  DOWNFALL 

They  were  deaf  to  his  entreaties;  all  they  could  hear  was  the 
voice  that  urged  them  to  seek  safety  for  themselves.  The  Prus- 
sians were  now  not  more  than  a  hundred  yards  from  them; 
already  they  were  on  their  hands  and  knees,  crawling  as  fast 
as  they  could  go  toward  the  wall. 

And  Maurice,  weeping  tears  of  rage,  thus  left  alone  with  his 
unconscious  companion,  raised  him  in  his  arms  and  endeavored 
to  lug  him  away,  but  he  found  his  puny  strength  unequal  to 
the  task,  exhausted  as  he  was  by  fatigue  and  the  emotions  of 
the  day.  At  the  first  step  he  took  he  reeled  and  fell  with  his 
burden.  If  only  he  could  catch  sight  of  a  stretcher-bearer! 
He  strained  his  eyes,  thought  he  had  discovered  one  among  the 
crowd  of  fugitives,  and  made  frantic  gestures  of  appeal;  no 
one  came,  they  were  left  behind,  alone.  Summoning  up  his 
strength  with  a  determined  effort  of  the  will  he  seized  Jean 
once  more  and  succeeded  in  advancing  some  thirty  paces,  when 
a  shell  burst  near  them  and  he  thought  that  all  was  ended,  that 
he,  too,  was  to  die  on  the  body  of  his  comrade. 

Slowly,  cautiously,  Maurice  picked  himself  up.  He  felt  his 
body,  arms,  and  legs;  nothing,  not  a  scratch.  Why  should  he 
not  look  out  for  himself  and  fly,  alone?  There  was  time  left 
still;  a  few  bounds  would  take  him  to  the  wall  and  he  would 
be  saved.  His  horrible  sensation  of  fear  returned  and  made 
him  frantic.  He  was  collecting  his  energies  to  break  away  and 
run,  when  a  feeling  stronger  than  death  intervened  and  van- 
quished the  base  impulse.  What,  abandon  Jean !  he  could  not 
do  it.  It  would  be  like  mutilating  his  own  being;  the  broth- 
erly affection  that  had  bourgeoned  and  grown  between  him  and 
that  rustic  had  struck  its  roots  down  into  his  life,  too  deep  to  be 
slain  like  that.  The  feeling  went  back  to  the  earliest  days,  was 
perhaps  as  old  as  the  world  itself;  it  was  as  if  there  were  but 
they  two  upon  earth,  of  whom  one  could  not  forsake  the  other 
without  forsaking  himself,  and  being  doomed  thenceforth  to  an 
eternity  of  solitude.  Molded  of  the  same  clay,  quickened  by 
the  same  spirit,  duty  imperiously  commanded  to  save  himself 
in  saving  his  brother. 

Had  it  not  been  for  the  crust  of  bread  he  ate  an  hour  before 
under  the  Prussian  shells  Maurice  could  never  have  done  what 
he  did;  how\\Q  did  it  he  could  never  in  subsequent  days  remem- 
ber. He  must  have  hoisted  Jean  upon  his  shoulders  and 
crawled  through  the  brush  and  brambles,  falling  a  dozen  times 
only  to  pick  himself  up  and  go  on  again,  stumbling  at  every 
rut,  at  every  pebble.  His  indomitable  will  sustained  him,  his 


THE  DOWNFALL  289 

dogged  resolution  would  have  enabled  him  10  bear  a  mountain 
on  his  back.  Behind  the  low  wall  he  found  Rochas  and  the 
few  men  that  were  left  of  the  squad,  firing  away  as  stoutly  as 
ever  and  defending  the  flag,  which  the  subaltern  held  beneath 
his  arm.  It  had  not  occurred  to  anyone  to  designate  lines  of 
retreat  for  the  several  army  corps  in  case  the  day  should  go 
against  them;  owing  to  this  want  of  foresight  every  general  was 
at  liberty  to  act  as  seemed  to  him  best,  and  at  this  stage  of  the 
conflict  they  all  found  themselves  being  crowded  back  upon 
Sedan  under  the  steady,  unrelaxing  pressure  of  the  German 
armies.  The  second  division  of  the  yth  corps  fell  back  in 
comparatively  good  order,  while  the  remnants  of  the  other 
divisions,  mingled  with  the  debris  of  the  ist  corps,  were  already 
streaming  into  the  city  in  terrible  disorder,  a  roaring  torrent  of 
rage  and  fright  that  bore  all,  men  and  beasts,  before  it. 

But  to  Maurice,  at  that  moment,  was  granted  the  satisfaction 
of  seeing  Jean  unclose  his  eyes,  and  as  he  was  running  to  a 
stream  that  flowed  near  by,  for  water  with  which  to  bathe  his 
friend's  face,  he  was  surprised,  looking  down  on  his  right  into 
a  sheltered  valley  that  lay  between  rugged  slopes,  to  behold  the 
same  peasant  whom  he  had  seen  that  morning,  still  leisurely 
driving  the  plow  through  the  furrow  with  the  assistance  of  his 
big  white  horse.  Why  should  he  lose  a  day?  Men  might 
fight,  but  none  the  less  the  corn  would  keep  on  growing;  and 
folks  must  live. 

VI. 

UP  on  his  lofty  terrace,  whither  he  had  betaken  himself  to 
watch  how  affairs  were  shaping,  Delaherche  at  last  became 
impatient  and  was  seized  with  an  uncontrollable  desire  for  news. 
He  could  see  that  the  enemy's  shells  were  passing  over  the 
city  and  that  the  few  projectiles  which  had  fallen  on  the  houses 
in  the  vicinity  were  only  responses,  made  at  long  intervals,  to 
the  irregular  and  harmless  fire  from  Fort  Palatinat,  but  he 
could  discern  nothing  of  the  battle,  and  his  agitation  was  rising 
to  fever  heat;  he  experienced  an  imperious  longing  for  intelli- 
gence, which  was  constantly  stimulated  by  the  reflection  that 
his  life  and  fortune  would  be  in  danger  should  the  army  be 
defeated.  He  found  it  impossible  to  remain  there  longer,  and 
went  downstairs,  leaving  behind  him  the  telescope  on  its  tripod, 
turned  on  the  German  batteries. 

When  he  had  descended,  however,  he  lingered  a  moment, 


2 90  THE  DO  WNFA LL 

detained  by  the  aspect  of  the  central  garden  of  the  factory.  It 
was  near  one  o'clock,  and  the  ambulance  was  crowded  with 
wounded  men;  the  wagons  kept  driving  up  to  the  entrance  in 
an  unbroken  stream.  The  regular  ambulance  wagons  of  the 
medical  department,  two-wheeled  and  four-wheeled,  were  too 
few  in  number  to  meet  the  demand,  and  vehicles  of  every 
description  from  the  artillery  and  other  trains,  prolonges,  pro- 
vision vans,  everything  on  wheels  that  could  be  picked  up  on 
the  battlefield,  came  rolling  up  with  their  ghastly  loads;  and 
later  in  the  day  even  carrioles  and  market-gardeners'  carts 
were  pressed  into  the  service  and  harnessed  to  horses  that  were 
found  straying  along  the  roads.  Into  these  motley  convey- 
ances were  huddled  the  men  collected  from  the  flying  ambu- 
lances, where  their  hurts  had  received  such  hasty  attention  as 
could  be  afforded.  It  was  a  sight  to  move  the  most  callous  to 
behold  the  unloading  of  those  poor  wretches,  some  with  a 
greenish  pallor  on  their  face,  others  suffused  with  the  purple 
hue  that  denotes  congestion;  many  were  in  a  state  of  coma, 
others  uttered  piercing  cries  of  anguish;  some  there  were  who, 
in  their  semi-conscious  condition,  yielded  themselves  to  the 
arms  of  the  attendants  with  a  look  of  deepest  terror  in  their 
eyes,  while  a  few,  the  minute  a  hand  was  laid  on  them,  died  of 
the  consequent  shock.  They  continued  to  arrive  in  such  num- 
bers that  soon  every  bed  in  the  vast  apartment  would  have  its 
occupant,  and  Major  Bouroche  had  given  orders  to  make  use 
of  the  straw  that  had  been  spread  thickly  upon  the  floor  at  one 
end.  He  and  his  assistants  had  thus  far  been  able  to  attend  to 
all  the  cases  with  reasonable  promptness;  he  had  requested 
Mme.  Delaherche  to  furnish  him  with  another  table,  with 
mattress  and  oilcloth  cover,  for  the  shed  where  he  had  estab- 
lished his  operating  room.  The  assistant  would  thrust  a  nap- 
kin saturated  with  chloroform  to  the  patient's  nostrils,  the  keen 
knife  flashed  in  the  air,  there  was  the  faint  rasping  of  the  saw, 
barely  audible,  the  blood  spurted  in  short,  sharp  jets  that  were 
checked  immediately.  As  soon  as  one  subject  had  been  oper- 
ated on  another  was  brought  in,  and  they  followed  one  another 
in  such  quick  succession  that  there  was  barely  time  to  pass  a 
sponge  over  the  protecting  oilcloth.  At  the  extremity  of  the 
grass  plot,  screened  from  sight  by  a  clump  of  lilac  bushes,  they 
had  set  up  a  kind  of  morgue  whither  they  carried  the  bodies  of 
the  dead,  which  were  removed  from  the  beds  without  a  mo- 
ment's delay  in  order  to  make  room  for  the  living,  and  this 
receptacle  also  served  to  receive  the  amputated  legs  and 


THE  DO  IV A' FALL  '  291 

arms,  whatever  debris  of  flesh  and  bone  remained  upon  the 
table. 

Mme.  Delaherche  and  Gilberte,  seated  at  the  foot  of  one  of 
the  great  trees,  found  it  hard  work  to  keep  pace  with  the 
demand  for  bandages.  Bouroche,  who  happened  to  be  pass- 
ing, his  face  very  red,  his  apron  white  no  longer,  threw  a 
bundle  of  linen  to  Delaherche  and  shouted : 

"Here!  be  doing  something;  make  yourself  useful!" 

But  the  manufacturer  objected.  "Oh!  excuse  me;  I  must 
go  and  try  to  pick  up  some  news.  One  can't  tell  whether  his 
neck  is  safe  or  not."  Then,  touching  his  lips  to  his  wife's 
hair:  "My  poor  Gilberte,  to  think  that  a  shell  may  burn  us 
out  of  house  and  home  at  any  moment!  It  is  horrible." 

-She  was  very  pale;  she  raised  her  head  and  glanced  about 
her,  shuddering  as  she  did  so.  Then,  involuntarily,  her  unex- 
tinguishable  smile  returned  to  her  lips. 

"Oh,  horrible,  indeed!  and  all  those  poor  men  that  they  are 
cutting  and  carving.  I  don't  see  how  it  is  that  I  stay  here 
without  fainting." 

Mme.  Delaherche  had  watched  her  son  as  he  kissed  the 
young  woman's  hair.  She  made  a  movement  as  if  to  part 
them,  thinking  of  that  other  man  who  must  have  kissed  those 
tresses  so  short  a  time  ago;  then  her  old  hands  trembled,  she 
murmured  beneath  her  breath : 

"What  suffering  all  about  us,  man  Dieu  !  It  makes  one  for- 
get his  own." 

Delaherche  left  them,  with  the  assurance  that  he  would  be 
away  no  longer  than  was  necessary  to  ascertain  the  true  condi- 
tion of  affairs.  In  the  Rue  Maqua  he  was  surprised  to  observe 
the  crowds  of  soldiers  that  were  streaming  into  the  city,  with- 
out arms  and  in  torn,  dust-stained  uniforms.  It  was  in  vain, 
however,  that  he  endeavored  to  slake  his  thirst  for  news  by 
questioning  them;  some  answered  with  vacant,  stupid  looks 
that  they  knew  nothing,  while  others  told  long  rambling  stories, 
with  the  maniacal  gestures  and  whirling  words  of  one  bereft  of 
reason.  He  therefore  mechanically  turned  his  steps  again 
toward  the  Sous  Prefecture  as  the  likeliest  quarter  in  which  to 
look  for  information.  As  he  was  passing  along  the  Place  du 
College  two  guns,  probably  all  that  remained  of  some  battery, 
came  dashing  up  to  the  curb  on  a  gallop,  and  were  abandoned 
there.  When  at  last  he  turned  into  the  Grande  Rue  he  had 
further  evidence  that  the  advanced  guards  of  the  fugitives  were 
beginning  to  take  possession  of  the  city;  three  dismounted 


292  THE  DOWNFALL 

hussars  had  seated  themselves  in  a  doorway  and  were  sharing 
a  loaf  of  bread;  two  others  were  walking  their  mounts  up  and 
down,  leading  them  by  the  bridle,  not  knowing  where  to  look 
for  stabling  for  them;  officers  were  hurrying  to  and  fro  dis- 
tractedly, seemingly  without  any  distinct  purpose.  On  the 
Place  Turenne  a  lieutenant  counseled  him  not  to  loiter  unnec- 
essarily, for  the  shells  had  an  unpleasant  way  of  dropping  there 
every  now  and  then;  indeed,  a  splinter  had  just  demolished 
the  railing  abo'ut  the  statue  of  the  great  commander  who  over- 
ran the  Palatinate.  And  as  if  to  emphasize  the  officer's  advice, 
while  he  was  making  fast  time  down  the  Rue  de  la  Sous  Pre- 
fecture he  saw  two  projectiles  explode,  with  a  terrible  crash, 
on  the  Pont  de  Meuse. 

He  was  standing  in  front  of  the  janitor's  loge,  debating  with 
himself  whether  it  would  be  best  to  send  in  his  card  and  try  to 
interview  one  of  the  aids-de-camp,  when  he  heard  a  girlish 
voice  calling  him  by  name. 

"M.  Delaherche!  Come  in  here,  quick;  it  is  not  safe 
out  there." 

It  was  Rose,  his  little  operative,  whose  existence  he  had 
quite  forgotten.  She  might  be  a  useful  ally  in  assisting  him 
to  gain  access  to  headquarters;  he  entered  the  lodge  and 
accepted  her  invitation  to  be  seated. 

"Just  think,  mamma  is  down  sick  with  the  worry  and  con- 
fusion; she  can't  leave  her  bed,  so,  you  see,  I  have  to  attend 
to  everything,  for  papa  is  with  the  National  Guards  up  in  the 
citadel.  A  little  while  ago  the  Emperor  left  the  building — I 
suppose  he  wanted  to  let  people  see  he  is  not  a  coward — and 
succeeded  in  getting  as  far  as  the  bridge  down  at  the  end  of 
the  street.  A  shell  alighted  right  in  front  of  him;  one  of  his 
equerries  had  his  horse  killed  under  him.  And  then  he  came 
back — he  couldn't  do  anything  else,  could  he,  now?" 

"You  must  have  heard  some  talk  of  how  the  battle  is  going. 
What  do  they  say,  those  gentlemen  upstairs?" 

She  looked  at  him  in  surprise.  Her  pretty  face  was  bright 
and  smiling,  with  its  fluffy  golden  hair  and  the  clear,  childish 
eyes  of  one  who  bestirred  herself  among  her  multifarious 
duties,  in  the  midst  of  all  those  horrors,  which  she  did  not 
well  understand. 

"No,  I  know  nothing.  About  midday  I  sent  up  a  letter  for 
Marshal  MacMahon,  but  it  could  not  be  given  him  right  away, 
because  the  Emperor  was  in  the  room.  They  were  together 
nearly  an  hour?  the  Marshal  lying  on  his  bed,  the  Emperor 


THE  DOWNFALL  293 

close  beside  him   seated  on  a  chair.     That   much  I  know  for 
certain,  because  I  saw  them  when  the  door  was  opened." 

"And  then,  what  did  they  say  to  each  other?" 
;   She  looked  at  him  again,  and  could  not  help  laughing. 

"Why,  I  don't  know;  how  could  you  expect  me  to? 
There's  not  a  living  soul  knows  what  they  said  to  each  other." 

She  was  right;  he  made  an  apologetic  gesture  in  recognition 
of  the  stupidity  of  his  question.  But  the  thought  of  that  fate- 
ful conversation  haunted  him;  the  interest  there  was  in  it  for 
him  who  could  have  heard  it!  What  decision  had  they 
arrived  at? 

"And  now,"  Rose  added,  "the  Emperor  is  back  in  his  cabi- 
net again,  where  he  is  having  a  conference  with  two  generals 
who  have  just  come  in  from  the  battlefield."  She  checked 
herself,  casting  a  glance  at  the  main  entrance  of  the  building. 
"See!  there  is  one  of  them,  now — and  there  comes  the  other." 

He  hurried  from  the  room,  and  in  the  two  generals  recog- 
nized Ducrot  and  Douay,  whose  horses  were  standing  before 
the  door.  He  watched  them  climb  into  their  saddles  and  gal- 
lop away.  They  had  hastened  into  the  city,  each  inde- 
pendently of  the  other,  after  the  plateau  of  Illy  had  been  cap- 
tured by  the  enemy,  to  notify  the  Emperor  that  the  battle  was 
lost.  They  placed  the  entire  situation  distinctly  before  him; 
the  army  and  Sedan  were  even  then  surrounded  on  every  side; 
the  result  could  not  help  but  be  disastrous. 

For  some  minutes  the  Emperor  continued  silently  to  pace 
the  floor  of  his  cabinet,  with  the  feeble,  uncertain  step  of  an 
invalid.  There  was  none  with  him  save  an  aid-de-camp,  who 
stood  by  the  door,  erect  and  mute.  And  ever,  to  and  fro, 
from  the  window  to  the  fireplace,  from  the  fireplace  to  the  win- 
dow, the  sovereign  tramped  wearily,  the  inscrutable  face  now 
drawn  and  twitching  spasmodically  with  a  nervous  tic.  The 
back  was  bent,  the  shoulders  bowed,  as  if  the  weight  of  his 
falling  empire  pressed  on  them  more  heavily,  and  the  lifeless 
eyes,  veiled  by  their  heavy  lids,  told  of  the  anguish  of  the 
fatalist  who  has  played  his  last  card  against  destiny  and  lost. 
Each  time,  however,  that  his  walk  brought  him  to  the  half- 
open  window  he  gave  a  start  and  lingered  there  a  second. 
And  during  one  of  those  brief  stoppages  he  faltered  with  trem- 
bling lips  : 

"Oh !  those  guns,  those  guns, that  have  been  going  since  the 
morning!" 

The  thunder  of  the  batteries  on  la  Marfee  and   at  Frenois 


294  THE  DOWNFALL 

seemed,  indeed,  to  resound  with  more  terrific  violence  there 
than  elsewhere.  It  was  one  continuous,  uninterrupted  crash, 
that  shook  the  windows,  nay,  the  very  walls  themselves;  an 
incessant  uproar  that  exasperated  the  nerves  by  its  persistency. 
And  he  could  not  banish  the  reflection  from  his  mind  that,  as 
the  struggle  was  now  hopeless,  further  resistance  would  be 
criminal.  What  would  avail  more  bloodshed,  more  maiming 
and  mangling;  why  add  more  corpses  to  the  dead  that  were 
already  piled  high  upon  that  bloody  field?  They  were  van- 
quished, it  was  all  ended;  then  why  not  stop  the  slaughter? 
The  abomination  of  desolation  raised  its  voice  to  heaven:  let 
it  cease. 

The  Emperor,  again  before  the  window,  trembled  and  raised 
his  hands  to  his  ears,  as  if  to  shut  out  those  reproachful 
voices. 

"Oh,  those  guns,  those  guns!     Will  they  never  be  silent!" 

Perhaps  the  dreadful  thought  of  his  responsibilities  arose 
before  him,  with  the  vision  of  all  those  thousands  of  bleeding 
forms  with  which  his  errors  had  cumbered  the  earth;  perhaps, 
again,  it  was  but  the  compassionate  impulse,  of  the  tender- 
hearted dreamer,  of  the  well-meaning  man  whose  mind  was 
stocked  with  humanitarian  theories.  At  the  moment  when  he 
beheld  utter  ruin  staring  him  in  the  face,  in  that  frightful 
whirlwind  of  destruction  that  broke  him  like  a  reed  and  scat- 
tered his  fortunes  in  the  dust,  he  could  yet  find  tears  for  others. 
Almost  crazed  at  the  thought  of  the  slaughter  that  was  merci- 
lessly going  on  so  near  him,  he  felt  he  had  not  strength  to 
endure  it  longer;  each  report  of  that  accursed  cannonade 
seemed  to  pierce  his  heart  and  intensified  a  thousandfold  his 
own  private  suffering. 

"Oh,  those  guns,  those  guns!  they  must  be  silenced  at 
once,  at  once!" 

And  that  monarch  who  no  longer  had  a  throne,  for  he  had 
delegated  all  his  functions  to  the  Empress  regent,  that  chief 
without  an  army,  since  he  had  turned  over  the  supreme  com- 
mand to  Marshal  Bazaine,  now  felt  that  he  must  once  more 
take  the  reins  in  his  hand  and  be  the  master.  Since  they  left 
Chalons  he  had  kept  himself  in  the  background,  had  issued  no 
orders,  content  to  be  a  nameless  nullity  without  recognized 
position,  a  cumbrous  burden  carried  about  from  place  to  place 
among  the  baggage  of  his  troops,  and  it  was  only  in  their  hour 
of  defeat  that  the  Emperor  reasserted  itself  in  him;  the  one 
order  that  he  was  yet  to  give,  out  of  the  pity  of  his  sorrowing 


THE  DOWNFALL  295 

heart,  was  to  raise  the  white  flag  on  the  citadel  to  request  an 
armistice. 

"Those  guns,  oh!  those  guns!  Take  a  sheet,  someone,  a 
tablecloth,  it  matters  not  what!  only  hasten,  hasten,  and -see 
that  it  is  done!" 

The  aid-de-camp  hurried  from  the  room,  and  with  unsteady 
steps  the  Emperor  continued  to  pace  his  beat,  back  and  forth, 
between  the  window  and  the  fireplace,  while  still  the  batteries 
kept  thundering,  shaking  the  house  from  garret  to  foundation. 

Delaherche  was  still  chatting  with  Rose  in  the  room  below 
when  a  non-commissioned  officer  of  the  guard  came  running  in 
and  interrupted  them. 

"Mademoiselle,  the  house  is  in  confusion,  I  cannot  find  a 
servant.  Can  you  let  me  have  something  from  your  linen 
closet,  a  white  cloth  of  some  kind?" 

"Will  a  napkin  answer?" 

"No,  no,  it  would  not  be  large  enough.  Half  of  a  sheet, 
say." 

Rose,  eager  to  oblige,  was  already  fumbling  in  her  closet. 

"I  don't  think  I  have  any  half-sheets.  No,  I  don't  see  any- 
thing that  looks  as  if  it  would  serve  your  purpose.  Oh,  here 
is  something;  could  you  use  a  tablecloth?" 

"A  tablecloth!  just  the  thing.  Nothing  could  be  better. " 
And  he  added  as  he  left  the  room:  "It  is  to  be  used  as  a  flag 
of  truce,  and  hoisted  on  the  citadel  to  let  the  enemy  know  we 
want  to  stop  the  fighting.  Much  obliged,  mademoiselle." 

Delaherche  gave  a  little  involuntary  start  of  delight;  they 
were  to  have  a  respite  at  last,  then !  Then  he  thought  it  might 
be  unpatriotic  to  be  joyful  at  such  a  time,  and  put  on  a  long 
face  again;  but  none  the  less  his  heart  was  very  glad  and  he 
contemplated  with  much  interest  a  colonel  and  captain,  fol- 
lowed by  the  sergeant,  as  they  hurriedly  left  the  Sous-Pre- 
fecture. The  colonel  had  the  tablecloth,  rolled  in  a  bundle, 
beneath  his  arm.  He  thought  he  should  like  to  follow  them, 
and  took  leave  of  Rose,  who  was  very  proud  that  her  napery 
wa$  to  be  put  to  such  use.  It  was  then  just  striking  two 
o'clock. 

In  front  of  the  Hdtel  de  Ville  Delaherche  was  jostled  by  a 
disorderly  mob  of  half-crazed  soldiers  who  were  pushing  their 
way  down  from  the  Faubourg  de  la  Cassine;  he  lost  sight  of  the 
colonel,  and  abandoned  his  design  of  going  to  witness  the  rais- 
ing of  the  white  flag.  He  certainly  would  not  be  allowed  to 
enter  the  citadel,  and  then  again  he  had  heard  it  reported  that 


296  THE  DOWNFALL 

shells  were  falling  on  the  college,  and  a  new  terror  filled  his 
mind;  his  factory  might  have  been  burned  since  he  left  it. 
All  his  feverish  agitation  returned  to  him  and  he  started  off  on 
a  run;  the  rapid  motion  was  a  relief  to  him.  But  the  streets 
were  blocked  by  groups  of  men,  at  every  crossing  he  was  delayed 
by  some  new  obstacle.  It  was  only  when  he  reached  the  Rue 
Maqua  and  beheld  the  monumental  facade  of  his  house  intact, 
no  smoke  or  sign  of  fire  about  it,  that  his  anxiety  was  allayed, 
and  he  heaved  a  deep  sigh  of  satisfaction.  He  entered,  and 
from  the  doorway  shouted  to  his  mother  and  wife : 

"It  is  all  right!  they  are  hoisting  the  white  flag;  the  can- 
nonade won't  last  much  longer." 

He  said  nothing  more,  for  the  appearance  presented  by  the 
ambulance  was  truly  horrifying. 

In  the  vast  drying-room,  the  wide  door  of  which  was  stand- 
ing open,  not  only  was  every  bed  occupied,  but  there  was  no 
more  room  upon  the  litter  that  had  been  shaken  down  on  the 
floor  at  the  end  of  the  apartment.  They  were  commencing  to 
strew  straw  in  the  spaces  between  the  beds,  the  wounded  were 
crowded  together  so  closely  that  they  were  in  contact.  Al- 
ready there  were  more  than  two  hundred  patients  there,  and 
more  were  arriving  constantly;  through  the  lofty  windows  the 
pitiless  white  daylight  streamed  in  upon  that  aggregation  of 
suffering  humanity.  Now  and  then  an  unguarded  movement 
elicited  an  involuntary  cry  of  anguish.  The  death-rattle  rose 
on  the  warm,  damp  air.  Down  the  room  a  low,  mournful  wail, 
almost  a  lullaby,  went  on  and  ceased  not.  And  all  about  was 
silence,  intense,  profound,  the  stolid  resignation  of  despair, 
the  solemn  stillness  of  the  death-chamber,  broken  only  by  the 
tread  and  whispers  of  the  attendants.  Rents  in  tattered,  shell- 
torn  uniforms  disclosed  gaping  wounds,  some  of  which  had 
received  a  hasty  dressing  on  the  battlefield,  while  others  were 
still  raw  and  bleeding.  There  were  feet,  still  incased  in  their 
coarse  shoes,  crushed  into  a  mass  like  jelly;  from  knees  and 
elbows,  that  were  as  if  they  had  been  smashed  by  a  hammer, 
depended  inert  limbs.  There  were  broken  hands,  and  fingers 
almost  severed,  ready  to  drop,  retained  only  by  a  strip  of  skin. 
Most  numerous  among  the  casualties  were  the  fractures;  the 
poor  arms  and  legs,  red  and  swollen,  throbbed  intolerably  and 
were  heavy  as  lead.  But  the  most  dangerous  hurts  were  those 
in  the  abdomen,  chest,  and  head.  There  were  yawning  fis- 
sures that  laid  open  the  entire  flank,  the  knotted  viscera  were 
drawn  into  great  hard  lumps  beneath  the  tight-drawn  skin, 


THE  DOWNFALL  207 

while  as  the  effect  of  certain  wounds  the  patient  frothed  at  the 
mouth  and  writhed  like  an  epileptic.  Here  and  there  were 
cases  where  the  lungs  had  been  penetrated,  the  puncture  now 
so  minute  as  to  permit  no  escape  of  blood,  again  a  wide,  deep 
orifice  through  which  the  red  tide  of  life  escaped  in  torrents; 
and  the  internal  hemorrhages,  those  that  were  hid  from  sight, 
were  the  most  terrible  in  their  effects,  prostrating  their  victim 
like  a  flash,  making  him  black  in  the  face  and  delirious.  And 
finally  the  head,  more  than  any  other  portion  of  the  frame,  gave 
evidence  of  hard  treatment;  a  broken  jaw,  the  mouth  a  pulp  of 
teeth  and  bleeding  tongue,  an  eye  torn  from  its  socket  and 
exposed  upon  the  cheek,  a  cloven  skull  that  showed  the  palpi- 
tating brain  beneath.  Those  in  whose  case  the  bullet  had 
touched  the  brain  or  spinal  marrow  were  already  as  dead  men, 
sunk  in  the  lethargy  of  coma,  while  the  fractures  and  other 
less  serious  cases  tossed  restlessly  on  their  pallets  and  beseech- 
ingly called  for  water  to  quench  their  thirst. 

Leaving  the  large  room  and  passing  out  into  the  courtyard, 
the  shed  where  the  operations  were  going  on  presented  another 
scene  of  horror.  In  the  rush  and  hurry  that  had  continued 
unabated  since  morning  it  was  impossible  to  operate  on  every 
case  that  was  brought  in,  so  their  attention  had  been  confined 
to  those  urgent  cases  that  imperatively  demanded  it.  When- 
ever Bouroche's  rapid  judgment  told  him  that  amputation  was 
necessary,  he  proceeded  at  once  to  perform  it.  In  the  same 
way  he  lost  not  a  moment's  time  in  probing  the  wound  and 
extracting  the  projectile  whenever  it  had  lodged  in  some  local- 
ity where  it  might  do  further  mischief,  as  in  the  muscles  of  the 
neck,  the  region  of  the  arm  pit,  the  thigh  joint,  the  ligaments 
of  the  knee  and  elbow.  Severed  arteries,  too,  had  to  be  tied 
without  delay.  Other  wounds  were  merely  dressed  by  one  of 
the  hospital  stewards  under  his  direction  and  left  to  await 
developments.  He  had  already  with  his  own  hand  performed 
four  amputations,  the  only  rest  that  he  allowed  himself  being 
to  attend  to  some  minor  cases  in  the  intervals  between  them, 
and  was  beginning  to  feel  fatigue.  There  were  but  two  tables, 
his  own  and  another,  presided  over  by  one  of  his  assistants; 
a  sheet  had  been  hung  between  them,  to  isolate  the  patients 
from  each  other.  Although  the  sponge  was  kept  constantly  at 
work  the  tables  were  always  red,  and  the  buckets  that  were 
emptied  over  a  bed  of  daisies  a  few  steps  away,  the  clear  water 
in  which  a  single  tumbler  of  blood  sufficed  to  redden,  seemed 
*o  be  buckets  of  unmixed  blood,  torrents  of  blood,  inundating 


DOWNFALL 

the  gentle  flowers  of  the  parterre.  Although  the  room  was 
thoroughly  ventilated  a  nauseating  smell  arose  from  the  tables 
and  their  horrid  burdens,  mingled  with  the  sweetly  insipid 
odor  of  chloroform. 

Delaherche,  naturally  a  soft-hearted  man,  was  in  a  quiver  of 
compassionate  emotion  at  the  spectacle  that  lay  before  his  eyes, 
when  his  attention  was  attracted  by  a  landau  that  drove  up  to 
the  door.  It  was  a  private  carriage,  but  doubtless  the  ambu- 
lance attendants  had  found  none  other  ready  to  their  hand  and 
had  crowded  their  patients  into  it.  There  were  eight  of  them, 
sitting  on  one  another's  knees,  and  as  the  last  man  alighted  the 
manufacturer  recognized  Captain  Beaudoin,  and  gave  utterance 
to  a  cry  of  terror  and  surprise. 

"Ah,  my  poor  friend!  Wait,  I  will  call  my  mother  and  my 
wife." 

They  came  running  up,  leaving  the  bandages  to  be  rolled  by 
servants.  The  attendants  had  already  raised  the  captain  and 
brought  him  into  the  room,  and  were  about  to  lay  him  down 
upon  a  pile  of  straw  when  Delaherche  noticed,  lying  on  a  bed, 
a  soldier  whose  ashy  face  and  staring  eyes  exhibited  no  sign 
of  life. 

"Look,  is  he  not  dead,  that  man?" 

"That's  so!"  replied  the  attendant.  "He  may  as  well 
make  room  for  someone  else!" 

He  and  one  of  his  mates  took  the  body  by  the  arms  and  legs 
and  carried  it  off  to  the  morgue  that  had  been  extemporized 
behind  the  lilac  bushes.  A  dozen  corpses  were  already  there 
in  a  row,  stiff  and  stark,  some  drawn  out  to  their  full  length  as 
if  in  an  attempt  to  rid  themselves  of  the  agony  that  racked 
them,  others  curled  and  twisted  in  every  attitude  of  suffering. 
Some  seemed  to  have  left  the  world  with  a  sneer  on  their  faces, 
their  eyes  retroverted  till  naught  was  visible  but  the  whites,  the 
grinning  lips  parted  over  the  glistening  teeth,  while  in  others, 
with  faces  unspeakably  sorrowful,  big  tears  still  stood  on  the 
cheeks.  One,  a  mere  boy,  short  and  slight,  half  whose  face 
had  been  shot  away  by  a  cannon-ball,  had  his  two  hands 
clasped  convulsively  above  his  heart,  and  in  them  a  woman's 
photograph,  one  of  those  pale,  blurred  pictures  that  are  made 
in  the  quarters  of  the  poor,  bedabbled  with  his  blood.  And 
at  the  feet  of  the  dead  had  been  thrown  in  a  promiscuous  pile 
the  amputated  arms  and  legs,  the  refuse  of  the  knife  and  saw  of 
the  operating  table,  just  as  the  butcher  sweeps  into  a  corner  of 
his  shop  the  offal,  the  worthless  odds  and  ends  of  flesh  and  bone. 


DOWNFALL  $$$ 

Cilberte  shuddered  as  she  looked  on  Captain  Beaudoin. 
Good  God !  how  pale  he  was,  stretched  out  on  his  mattress,  his 
face  so  white  beneath  the  encrusting  grime!  And  the  thought 
that  but  a  few  short  hours  before  he  had  held  her  in  his  arms, 
radiant  in  all  his  manly  strength  and  beauty,  sent  a  chill  of 
terror  to  her  heart.  She  kneeled  beside  him. 

"What  a  terrible  misfortune,  my  friend!  But  it  won't 
amount  to  anything,  will  it?"  And  she  drew  her  handker- 
chief from  her  pocket  and  began  mechanically  to  wipe  his  face, 
for  she  could  not  bear  to  look  at  it  thus  soiled  with  powder, 
sweat,  and  clay.  It  seemed  to  her,  too,  that  she  would  be 
helping  him  by  cleansing  him  a  little.  "Will  it?  it  is  only 
your  leg  that  is  hurt;  it  won't  amount  to  anything/1 

The  captain  made  an  effort  to  rouse  himself  from  his  semi- 
conscious state,  and  opened  his  eyes.  He  recognized  his 
friends  and  greeted  them  with  a  faint  smile. 

"Yes,  it  is  only  the  leg.  I  was  not  even  aware  of  being  hit; 

I  thought  I  had  made  a  misstep  an  \  fallen "  He  spoke 

with  great  difficulty.  "Oh!  I  am  so  thirsty !" 

Mme.  Delaherche,  who  was  standing  at  the  other  side  of  the 
mattress,  looking  down  compassionately  on  the  young  man,  has- 
tily left  the  room.  She  returned  with  a  glass  and  a  carafe  of 
water  into  which  a  little  cognac  had  been  poured,  and  when 
the  captain  had  greedily  swallowed  the  contents  of  the  glass, 
she  distributed  what  remained  in  the  carafe  among  the  occu- 
pants of  the  adjacent  beds,  who  begged  with  trembling  out- 
stretched hands  and  tearful  voices  for  a  drop.  A  zouave,  for 
whom  there  was  none  left,  sobbed  like  a  child  in  his  disappoint- 
ment. 

Delaherche  was  meantime  trying  to  gain  the  major's  ear  to 
see  if  he  could  not  prevail  on  him  to  take  up  the  captain's  case 
out  of  its  regular  turn.  Bouroche  came  into  the  room  just 
then,  with  his  blood-stained  apron  and  lion's  mane  hanging  in 
confusion  about  his  perspiring  face,  and  the  men  raised  their 
heads  as  he  passed  and  endeavored  to  stop  him,  all  clamoring 
at  once  for  recognition  and  immediate  attention:  "This  way, 
major!  It's  my  turn,  major!"  Faltering  words  of  entreaty 
went  up  to  him,  trembling  hands  clutched  at  his  garments,  but 
he,  wrapped  up  in  the  work  that  lay  before  him  and  puffing 
with  his  laborious  exertions,  continued  to  plan  and  calculate 
and  listened  to  none  of  them.  He  communed  with  himself 
aloud,  counting  them  over  with  his  finger  and  classifying  them, 
assigning  them  their  numbers;  this  one  first,  then  that  one, 


300  THE   DOWNFALL 

then  that  other  fellow;  one,  two.  three;  the  jaw,  the  arm,  ther* 
the  thigh;  white  the  assistant  who  accompanied  him  on  his 
round  made  himself  all  ears  in  his  effort  to  memorize  his 
directions. 

"Major,"  said  Delaherche,  plucking  him  by  the  sleeve, 
"there  is  an  officer  over  here,  Captain  Beaudoin " 

Bouroche  interrupted  him.  "What,  Beaudoin  here!  Ah, 
the  poor  devil!"  And  he  crossed  over  at  once  to  the  side  of 
the  wounded  man.  A  single  glance,  however,  must  have  suf- 
ficed to  show  him  that  the  case  was  a  bad  one,  for  he  added  in 
the  same  breath,  without  even  stooping  to  examine  the  injured 
member:  "Good!  I  will  have  them  bring  him  to  me  at  once, 
just  as  soon  as  I  am  through  with  the  operation  that  is  now  in 
hand." 

And  he  went  back  to  the  shed,  followed  by  Delaherche,  who 
would  not  lose  sight  of  him  for  fear  lest  he  might  forget  his 
promise. 

The  business  that  lay  before  him  now  was  the  rescision  of  a 
shoulder-joint  in.  accordance  with  Lisfranc's  method,  which 
surgeons  never  fail  to  speak  of  as  a  "very  pretty"  operation, 
something  neat  and  expeditious,kbarely  occupying  forty  seconds 
in  the  performance.  The  patient  was  subjected  to  the  influ- 
ence of  chloroform,  while  an  assistant  grasped  the  shoulder 
with  both  hands,  the  fingers  under  the  armpit,  the  thumbs  on 
top.  Bouroche,  brandishing  the  long,  keen  knife,  cried: 
"Raise  him!"  seized  the  deltoid  with  his  left  hand  and  with  a 
swift  movement  of  the  right  cut  through  the  flesh  of  the  arm 
and  severed  the  muscle;  then,  with  a  deft  rearward  cut,  he 
disarticulated  the  joint  at  a  single  stroke,  and  presto!  the  arm 
fell  on  the  table,  taken  off  in  three  motions.  The  assistant 
slipped  his  thumbs  over  the  brachial  artery  in  such  manner  as 
to  close  it.  "Let  him  down!"  Bouroche  could  not  restrain  a 
little  pleased  laugh  as  he  proceeded  to  secure  the  artery,  for  he 
had  done  it  in  thirty-five  seconds.  All  that  was  left  to  do  now 
was  to  bring  a  flap  of  skin  down  over  the  wound  and  stitch  it, 
in  appearance  something  like  a  flat  epaulette.  It  was  not  only 
"pretty,"  but  exciting,  on  account  of  the  danger,  for  a  man 
will  pump  all  the  blood  out  of  his  body  in  two  minutes  ^through 
the  brachial,  to  say  nothing  of  the  risk  there  is  in  bringing  a 
patient  to  a  sitting  posture  when  under  the  influence  of  anaes- 
thetics. 

Delaherche  was  white  as  a  ghost;  a  thrill  of  horror  ran  down 
his  back.  He  would  have  turned  and  fled,  but  time  was  not 


THE  DOWNFALL  &t 

given  him;  the  arm  was  already  off.  The  soldier  was  a  new 
recruit,  a  sturdy  peasant  lad;  on  emerging  from  his  state  of 
coma  he  beheld  a  hospital  attendant  carrying  away  the  ampu- 
tated limb  to  conceal  it  behind  the  lilacs.  Giving  a  quick 
downward  glance  at  his  shoulder,  he  saw  the  bleeding  stump 
and  knew  what  had  been  done,  whereon  he  became  furiously 
angry. 

"Ah,  nom  de  Dieu!  what  have  you  been  doing  to  me?  It  is 
a  shame!" 

Bouroche  was  too  done  up  to  make  him  an  immediate 
answer,  but  presently,  in  his  fatherly  way : 

"I  acted  for  the  best;  I  didn't  want  to  see  you  kick  the 
bucket,  my  boy.  Besides,  I  asked  you,  and  you  told  me  to  go 
ahead." 

"I  told  you  to  go  ahead!  I  did?  How  could  I  know  what 
I  was  saying!"  His  anger  subsided  and  he  began  to  weep 
scalding  tears.  "What  is  going  to  become  of  me  now?" 

They  carried  him  away  and  laid  him  on  the  straw,  and  gave 
the  table  and  its  covering  a  thorough  cleansing;  and  the 
buckets  of  blood-red  water  that  they  threw  out  across  the  grass 
plot  gave  to  the  pale  daisies  a  still  deeper  hue  of  crimson. 

When  Delaherche  had  in  some  degree  recovered  his  equa- 
nimity he  was  astonished  to  notice  that  the  bombardment  was 
still  going  on.  Why  had  it  not  been  silenced?  Rose's  table- 
cloth must  have  been  hoisted  over  the  citadel  by  that  time,  and 
yet  it  seemed  as  if  the  fire  of  the  Prussian  batteries  was  more 
rapid  and  furious  than  ever.  The  uproar  was  such  that  one 
could  not  hear  his  own  voice;  the  sustained  vibration  tried  the 
stoutest  nerves.  On  both  operators  and  patients  the  effect 
could  not  but  be  most  unfavorable  of  those  incessant  detona- 
tions that  seemed  to  penetrate  the  inmost  recesses  of  one's 
being.  The  entire  hospital  was  in  a  state  of  feverish  alarm 
and  apprehension. 

"I  supposed  it  was  all  over;  what  can  they  mean  by  keeping 
it  up?"  exclaimed  Delaherche,  who  was  nervously  listening, 
expecting  each  shot  would  be  the  last. 

Returning  to  Bouroche  to  remind  him  of  his  promise  and 
conduct  him  to  the  captain,  he  was  astonished  to  find  him 
seated  on  a  bundle  of  straw  before  two  pails  of  iced  water,  into 
which  he  had  plunged  both  his  arms,  bared  to  the  shoulder. 
The  major,  weary  and  disheartened,  overwhelmed  by  a  sensa- 
tion of  deepest  melancholy  and  dejection,  had  reached  one  of 
those  terrible  moments  when  the  practitioner  becomes  conscious 


$6*  THE  DOWNFALL 

of  his  own  impotency;  he  had  exhausted  his  strength,  physical 
and  moral,  and  taken  this  means  to  restore  it.  And  yet  he 
was  not  a  weakling;  he  was  steady  of  hand  and  firm  of  heart; 
but  the  inexorable  question  had  presented  itself  to  him: 
"What  is  the  use?"  The  feeling  that  he  could  accomplish  so 
little,  that  so  much  must  be'  left  undone,  had  suddenly  par- 
alyzed him.  What  was  the  use?  since  Death,  in  spite  of  his 
utmost  effort,  would  always  be  victorious. 

Two  attendants  came  in,  bearing  Captain  Beaudoin  on  a 
stretcher. 

"Major,"  Delaherche  ventured  to  say,  "here  is  the  cap- 
tain." 

Bouroche  opened  his  eyes,  withdrew  his  arms  from  their 
cold  bath,  shook  and  dried  them  on  the  straw.  Then,  rising 
to  his  feet:  ' 

"Ah,  yes;  the  next  one Well,  well,  the  day's  work  is 

not  yet  done."  And  he  shook  the  tawny  locks  upon  his  lion's 
head,  rejuvenated  and  refreshed,  restored  to  himself  once  more 
by  the  invincible  habit  of  duty  and  the  stern  discipline  of  his 
profession. 

"Good!  just  above  the  right  ankle,"  said  Bouroche,  with 
unusual  garrulity,  intended  to  quiet  the  nerves  of  the  patient. 
"You  displayed  wisdom  in  selecting  the  location  of  your 
wound;  one  is  not  much  the  worse  for  a  hurt  in  that  quarter. 
Now  we'll  just  take  a  little  look  at  it." 

But  Beaudoin's  persistently  lethargic  condition  evidently 
alarmed  him.  He  inspected  the  contrivance  that  had  been 
applied  by  the  field  attendant  to  check  the  flow  of  blood,  which 
was  simply  a  cord  passed  around  the  leg  outside  the  trousers 
and  twisted  tight  with  the  assistance  of  a  bayonet  sheath,  with 
a  growling  request  to  be  informed  what  infernal  ignoramus  had 
done  that.  Then  suddenly  he  saw  how  matters  were  and  was 
silent;  while  they  were  bringing  him  in  from  the  field  in  the 
overcrowded  landau  the  improvised  tourniquet  had  become 
loosened  and  slipped  down,  thus  giving  rise  to  an  extensive 
hemorrhage.  He  relieved  his  feelings  by  storming  at  the 
hospital  steward  who  was  assisting  him. 

"You  confounded  snail,  cut!  Are  you  going  to  keep  me 
here  all  day?" 

The  attendant  cut  away  the  trousers  and  drawers,  then  the 
shoe  and  sock,  disclosing  to  view  the  leg  and  foot  in  their  pale 
nudity,  stained  with  blood.  Just  over  the  ankle  was  a  fright- 
ful laceration,  into  which  the  splinter  of  the  bursting  shell  had 


THE  DOWNFALL  303 

driven  a  piece  of  the  red  cloth  of  the  trousers.  The  muscle 
protruded  from  the  lips  of  the  gaping  orifice,  a  roll  of  whitish, 
mangled  tissue. 

Gilberte  had  to  support  herself  against  one  of  the  uprights 
of  the  shed.  Ah!  that  flesh,  that  poor  flesh  that  was  so  white, 
now  all  torn  and  maimed  and  bleeding!  Despite  the  horror 
and  terror  of  the  sight  she  could  not  turn  away  her  eyes. 

"Confound  it!"  Bouroche  exclaimed,  "they  have  made  a 
nice  mess  here!" 

He  felt  the  foot  and  found  it  cold;  the  pulse,  if  any,  was  so 
feeble  as  to  be  undistinguishable.  His  face  was  very  grave,  and 
he  pursed  his  lips  in  a  way  that  was  habitual  with  him  when  he 
had  a  more  than  usually  serious  case  to  deal  with. 

"Confound  it,"  he  repeated,  "I  don't  like  the  looks  of  that 
foot!" 

The  captain,  whom  his  anxiety  had  finally  aroused  from  his 
semi-somnolent  state,  asked : 

"What  were  you  saying,  major?" 

Bouroche's  tactics,  whenever  an  amputation  became  neces- 
sary, were  never  to  appeal  directly  to  the  patient  for  the  custo- 
mary authorization.  He  preferred  to  have  the  patient  accede 
to  it  voluntarily. 

"I  was  saying  that  I  don't  like  the  looks  of  that  foot,"  he 
murmured,  as  if  thinking  aloud.  "lam  afraid  we  shan't  be 
able  to  save  it." 

In  a  tone  of  alarm  Beaudoin  rejoined:  "Come,  major,  there 
is  no  use  beating  about  the  bush.  What  is  your  opinion?" 

"My  opinion  is  that  you  are  a  brave  man,  captain,  and  that 
you  are  going  to  let  me  do  what  the  necessity  of  the  case 
demands." 

To  Captain  Beaudoin  it  seemed  as  if  a  sort  of  reddish  vapor 
arose  before  his  eyes  through  which  he  saw  things  obscurely. 
He  understood.  But  notwithstanding  the  intolerable  fear  that 
appeared  to  be  clutching  at  his  throat,  he  replied,  unaffectedly 
and  bravely: 

"Do  as  you  think  best,  major." 

The  preparations  did  not  consume  much  time.  The  assistant 
had  saturated  a  cloth  with  chloroform  and  was  holding  it  in 
readiness;  it  was  at  once  applied  to  the  patient's  nostrils. 
Then,  just  at  the  moment  that  the  brief  struggle  set  in  that 
precedes  anaesthesia,  two  attendants  raised  the  captain  and 
placed  him  on  the  mattress  upon  his  back,  in  such  a  position 
that  the  legs  should  be  free;  one  of  them  retained  his  grasp  on 


THE   DOWNFALL 

the  left  limb,  holding  it  flexed,  while  an  assistant,  seizing  the 
right,  clasped  it  tightly  with  both  his  hands  in  the  region  of  the 
groin  in  order  to  compress  the  arteries. 

Gilberte,  when  she  saw  Bouroche  approach  the  victim  with 
the  glittering  steel,  could  endure  no  more. 

"Oh,  don't!  oh,  don't!  it  is  too  horrible!" 

And  she  would  have  fallen  had  it  not  been  that  Mme.  Dela- 
herche  put  forth  her  arm  to  sustain  her. 

"But  why  do  you  stay  here?" 

Both  the  women  remained,  however.  They  averted  their 
eyes,  not  wishing  to  see  the  rest;  motionless  and  trembling  they 
stood  locked  in  each  other's  arms,  notwithstanding  the  little 
love  there  was  between  them. 

At  no  time  during  the  day  had  the  artillery  thundered  more 
loudly  than  now.  It  was  three  o'clock,  and  Delaherche 
declared  angrily  that  he  gave  it  up — he  could  not  understand 
it.  There  could  be  no  doubt  about  it  now,  the  Prussian  bat- 
teries, instead  of  slackening  their  fire,  were  extending  it. 
Why?  What  had  happened?  It  was  as  if  all  the  forces  of  the 
nether  regions  had  been  unchained;  the  earth  shook,  the  heav- 
ens were  on  fire.  The  ring  of  flame-belching  mouths  of  bronze 
that  encircled  Sedan,  the  eight  hundred  guns  of  the  German 
armies,  that  were  served  with  such  activity  and  raised  such  an 
uproar,  were  expending  their  thunders  on  the  adjacent  fields; 
had  that  concentric  fire  been  focused  upon  the  city,  had  the 
batteries  on  those  commanding  heights  once  begun  to  play 
upon  Sedan,  it  would  have  been  reduced  to  ashes  and  pulver- 
ized into  dust  in  less  than  fifteen  minutes.  But  now  the  pro- 
jectiles were  again  commencing  to  fall  upon  the  houses,  the 
crash  that  told  of  ruin  and  destruction  was  heard  more  fre- 
quently. One  exploded  in  the  Rue  des  Voyards,  another 
grazed  the  tall  chimney  of  the  factory,  and  the  bricks  and 
mortar  came  tumbling  to  the  ground  directly  in  front  of  the 
shed  where  the  surgeons  were  at  work.  Bouroche  looked  up 
and  grumbled: 

"Are  they  trying  to  finish  our  wounded  for  us?  Really,  this 
racket  is  intolerable." 

In  the  meantime  an  attendant  had  seized  the  captain's  leg, 
and  the  major,  with  a  swift  circular  motion  of  his  hand,  made 
an  incision  in  the  skin  below  the  knee  and  some  two  inches 
below  the  spot  where  he  intended  to  saw  the  bone;  then,  still 
employing  the  same  thin-bladed  knife,  that  he  did  not  change 
in  order  to  get  on  more  rapidly,  he  loosened  the  skin  on  the 


THE  DOWNFALL  305 

superior  side  of  the  incision  and  turned  it  back,  much  as  one 
would  peel  an  orange.  But  just  as  he  was  on  the  point  of 
dividing  the  muscles  a  hospital  steward  came  up  and  whispered 
in  his  ear: 

"Number  two  has  just  slipped  his  cable." 

The  major  did  not  hear,  owing  to  the  fearful  uproar. 

"Speak  up,  can't  you!  My  ear  drums  are  broken  with  their 
d — d  cannon." 

"Number  two  has  just  slipped  his  cable." 

"Who  is  that,  number  two?" 

"The  arm,  you  know." 

"Ah,  very  good!  Well,  then,  you  can  bring  me  number 
three,  the  jaw." 

And  with  wonderful  dexterity,  never  changing  his  position, 
he  cut  through  the  muscles  clean  down  to  the  bone  with  a 
single  motion  of  his  wrist.  He  laid  bare  the  tibia  and  fibula, 
introduced  between  them  an  implement  to  keep  them  in  posi- 
tion, drew  the  saw  across  them  once,  and  they  were  sundered. 
And  the  foot  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  attendant  who  was 
holding  it. 

The  flow  of  blood  had  been  small,  thanks  to  the  pressure 
maintained  by  the  assistant  higher  up  the  leg,  at  the  thigh. 
The  ligature  of  the  three  arteries  was  quickly  accomplished, 
but  the  major  shook  his  head,  and  when  the  assistant  had 
removed  his  fingers  he  examined  the  stump,  murmuring,  cer- 
tain that  the  patient  could  not  hear  as  yet : 

"It  looks  bad;  there's  no  blood  coming  from  the  arterioles." 

And  he  completed  his  diagnosis  of  the  case  by  an  expressive 
gesture:  Another  poor  fellow  who  was  soon  to  answer  the  great 
roll-call!  while  on  his  perspiring  face  was  again  seen  that 
expression  of  weariness  and  utter  dejection,  that  hopeless, 
unanswerable:  "What  is  the  use?"  since  out  of  every  ten 
cases  that  they  assumed  the  terrible  responsibility  of  operating 
on  they  did  not  succeed  in  saving  four.  He  wiped  his  fore- 
head, and  set  to  work  to  draw  down  the  flap  of  skin  and  put  in 
the  three  sutures  that  were  to  hold  it  in  place. 

Delaherche  having  told  Gilberte  that  the  operation  was  com- 
pleted, she  turned  her  gaze  once  more  upon  the  table;  she 
caught  a  glimpse  of  the  captain's  foot,  however,  as  the  attend- 
ant was  carrying  it  away  to  the  place  behind  the  lilacs.  The 
charnel  house  there  continued  to  receive  fresh  occupants;  two 
more  corpses  had  recently  been  brought  in  and  added  to  the 
ghastly  array,  one  with  blackened  lips  still  parted  wide  as  if 


306  THE  DOWNFALL 

rending  the  air  with  shrieks  of  anguish,  the  other,  his  form  so 
contorted  and  contracted  in  the  convulsions  of  the  last  agony 
that  he  was  like  a  stunted,  malformed  boy.  Unfortunately, 
there  was  beginning  to  be  a  scarcity  of  room  in  the  little 
secluded  corner,  and  the  human  dtbris  had  commenced  to 
overflow  and  invade  the  adjacent  alley.  The  attendant  hesi- 
tated a  moment,  in  doubt  what  to  do  with  the  captain's  foot, 
then  finally  concluded  to  throw  it  on  the  general  pile. 

"Well,  captain,  that's  over  with,"  the  major  said  to  Beau- 
doin  when  he  regained  consciousness.  "You'll  be  all  right 
now. ' ' 

But  the  captain  did  not  show  the  cheeriness  that  follows  a 
successful  operation.  He  opened  his  eyes  and  made  an 
attempt  to  raise  himself,  then  fell  back  on  his  pillow,  murmur- 
ing wearily,  in  a  faint  voice : 

"Thanks,  major.     I'm  glad  it's  over." 

He  was  conscious  of  the  pain,  however,  when  the  alcohol  of 
the  dressing  touched  the  raw  flesh.  He  flinched  a  little,  com- 
plaining that  they  were  burning  him.  And  just  as  they  were 
bringing  up  the  stretcher  preparatory  to  carrying  him  back  into 
the  other  room  the  factory  was  shaken  to  its  foundations  by  a 
most  terrific  explosion;  a  shell  had  burst  directly  in  the  rear  of 
the  shed,  in  the  small  courtyard  where  the  pump  was  situated. 
The  glass  in  the  windows  was  shattered  into  fragments,  and  a 
dense  cloud  of  smoke  came  pouring  into  the  ambulance.  The 
wounded  men,  stricken  with  panic  terror,  arose  from  their  bed 
of  straw;  all  were  clamoring  with  affright;  all  wished  to  fly  at 
once. 

Delaherche  rushed  from  the  building  in  consternation  to  see 
what  damage  had  been  done.  Did  they  mean  to  burn  his 
house  down  over  his  head?  What  did  it  all  mean?  Why  did 
they  open  fire  again  when  the  Emperor  had  ordered  that  it 
should  cease? 

"Thunder  and  lightning!  Stir  yourselves,  will  you!" 
Bouroche  shouted  to  his  staff,  who  were  standing  about  with 
pallid  faces,  transfixed  by  terror.  "Wash  off  the  table ;  go  and 
bring  me  in  number  three!" 

They  cleansed  the  table;  and  once  more  the  crimson  con- 
tents of  the  buckets  were  hurled  across  the  grass  plot  upon  the 
bed  of  daisies,  which  was  now  a  sodden,  blood-soaked  mat  of 
flowers  and  verdure.  And  Bouroche,  to  relieve  the  tedium 
until  the  attendants  should  bring  him  "number  three,"  applied 
himself  to  probing  for  a  musket-ball,  which,  having  first  broken 


THE  DOWNFALL  307 

the  patient's  lower  jaw,  had  lodged  in  the  root  of  the  tongue. 
The  blood  flowed  freely  and  collected  on  his  fingers  in  glutin- 
ous masses. 

Captain  Beaudoin  was  again  resting  on  his  mattress  in  the 
large  room.  Gilberte  and  Mme.  Delaherche  had  followed  the 
stretcher  when  he  was  carried  from  the  operating  table,  and 
even  Delaherche,  notwithstanding  his  anxiety,  came  in  for  a 
moment's  chat. 

"Lie  here  and  rest  a  few  minutes,  Captain.  We  will  have  a 
room  prepared  for  you,  and  you  shall  be  our  guest." 

But  the  wounded  man  shook  off  his  lethargy  and  for  a  mo- 
ment had  command  of  his  faculties. 

"No,  it  is  not  worth  while;  I  feel  that  I  am  going  to  die." 

And  he  looked  at  them  with  wide  eyes,  filled  with  the  horror 
of  death. 

"Oh,  Captain!  why  do  you  talk  like  that?"  murmured  Gil- 
berte, with  a  shiver,  while  she  forced  a  smile  to  her  lips. 
"You  will  be  quite  well  a  month  hence." 

He  shook  his  head  mournfully,  and  in  the  room  was  con- 
scious of  no  presence  save  hers;  on  all  his  face  was  expressed 
his  unutterable  yearning  for  life,  his  bitter,  almost  craven 
regret  that  he  was  to  be  snatched  away  so  young,  leaving  so 
many  joys  behind  untasted. 

"I  am  going  to  die,  I  am  going  to  die.  Oh!  'tis  hor- 
rible  " 

Then  suddenly  he  became  conscious  of  his  torn,  soiled  uni- 
form and  the  grime  upon  his  hands,  and  it  made  him  feel 
uncomfortable  to  be  in  the  company  of  women  in  such  a  state. 
It  shamed  him  to  show  such  weakness,  and  his  desire  to  look 
and  be  the  gentleman  to  the  last  restored  to  him  his  manhood. 
When  he  spoke  again  it  was  in  a  tone  almost  of  cheerfulness. 

"If  T  have  got  to  die,  though,  I  would  rather  it  should  be 
with  clean  hands.  I  should  count  it  a  great  kindness,  madame, 
if  you  would  moisten  a  napkin  and  let  me  have  it." 

Gilberte  sped  away  and  quickly  returned  with  the  napkin, 
with  which  she  herself  cleansed  the  hands  of  the  dying  man. 
Thenceforth,  desirous  of  quitting  the  scene  with  dignity,  he 
displayed  much  firmness.  Delaherche  did  what  he  could  to 
cheer  him,  and  assisted  his  wife  in  the  small  attentions  she 
offered  for  his  comfort.  Old  Mme.  Delaherche,  too,  in  pres- 
ence of  the  man  whose  hours  were  numbered,  felt  her  enmity 
subsiding.  She  would  be  silent,  she  who  knew  all  and  had 
sworn  to  impart  her  knowledge  to  her  son.  What  would  it 


308  THE  DOWNFALL 

avail  to  excite  discord  in  the  household,  since  death  would 
soon  obliterate  all  trace  of  the  wrong? 

The  end  came  very  soon.  Captain  Beaudoin,  whose  strength 
was  ebbing  rapidly,  relapsed  into  his  comatose  condition,  and 
a  cold  sweat  broke  out  and  stood  in  beads  upon  his  neck  and 
forehead.  He  opened  his  eyes  again,  and  began  to  feebly 
grope  about  him  with  his  stiffening  fingers,  as  if  feeling  for  a 
covering  that  was  not  there,  pulling  at  it  with  a  gentle,  contin- 
uous movement,  as  if  to  draw  it  up  around  his  shoulders. 

"It  is  cold—     Oh!  it  is  so  cold." 

And  so  he  passed  from  life,  peacefully,  without  a  struggle; 
and  on  his  wasted,  tranquil  face  rested  an  expression  of 
unspeakable  melancholy. 

Delaherche  saw  to  it  that  the  remains,  instead  of  being  borne 
away  and  placed  among  the  common  dead,  were  deposited  in 
one  of  the  outbuildings  of  the  factory.  He  endeavored  to 
prevail  on  Gilberte,  who  was  tearful  and  disconsolate,  to  retire 
to  her  apartment,  but  she  declared  that  to  be  alone  now  would 
be  more  than  her  nerves  could  stand,  and  begged  to  be  allowed 
to  remain  with  her  mother-in-law  in  the  ambulance,  where  the 
noise  and  movement  would  be  a  distraction  to  her.  She  was 
seen  presently  running  to  carry  a  drink  of  water  to  a  chasseur 
d'Afrique  whom  his  fever  had  made  delirious,  and  she  assisted 
a  hospital  steward  to  dress  the  hand  of  a  little  recruit,  a  lad  of 
twenty,  who  had  had  his  thumb  shot  away  and  come  in  on  foot 
from  the  battlefield;  and  as  he  was  jolly  and  amusing,  treating 
his  wound  with  all  the  levity  and  nonchalance  of  the  Parisian 
rollicker,  she  was  soon  laughing  and  joking  as  merrily  as  he. 

While  the  captain  lay  dying  the  cannonade  seemed,  if  that 
were  possible,  to  have  increased  in  violence;  another  shell  had 
landed  in  the  garden,  shattering  one  of  the  old  elms.  Terror- 
stricken  men  came  running  in  to  say  that  all  Sedan  was  in  dan- 
ger of  destruction;  a  great  fire  had  broken  out  in  the  Faubourg 
de  la  Cassine.  If  the  bombardment  should  continue  with  such 
fury  for  any  length  of  time  there  would  be  nothing  left  of  the 
city. 

"It  can't  be;  I  am  going  to  see  about  it!"  Delaherche 
exclaimed,  violently  excited. 

"Where  are  you  going,  pray?"  asked  Bouroche. 

"Why,  to  the  Sous-Prefecture,  to  see  what  the  Emperor 
means  by  fooling  us  in  this  way,  with  his  talk  of  hoisting  the 
white  flag." 

For  some  few  seconds  the  major  stood  as  if  petrified  at  the 


THE  DOWNFALL  309 

idea  of  defeat  and  capitulation,  which  presented  itself  to  him 
then  for  the  first  time  in  the  midst  of  his  impotent  efforts  to 
save  the  lives  of  the  poor  maimed  creatures  they  were  bringing 
in  to  him  from  the  field.  Rage  and  grief  were  in  his  voice  as 
he  shouted: 

/  "Go  to  the  devil,  if  you  will!  All  you  can  do  won't  keep 
us  from  being  soundly  whipped!" 

On  leaving  the  factory  Delaherche  found  it  no  easy  task  to 
squeeze  his  way  through  the  throng;  at  every  instant  the  crowd 
of  straggling  soldiers  that  filled  the  streets  received  fresh  acces- 
sions. He  questioned  several  of  the  officers  whom  he  encoun- 
tered; not  one  of  them  had  seen  the  white  flag  on  the  citadel. 
Finally  he  met  a  colonel,  who  declared  that  he  had  caught  a 
momentary  glimpse  of  it:  that  it  had  been  run  up  and  then 
immediately  hauled  down  That  explained  matters;  either  the 
Germans  had  not  seen  it,  or  seeing  it  appear  and  disappear  so 
quickly,  had  inferred  the  distressed  condition  of  the  French 
and  redoubled  their  fire  in  consequence.  There  was  a  story  in 
circulation  how  a  general  officer,  enraged  beyond  control  at  the 
sight  of  the  flag,  had  wrested  it  from  its  bearer,  broken  the 
staff,  and  trampled  it  in  the  mud.  And  still  the  Prussian  bat- 
teries continued  to  play  upon  the  city,  shells  were  falling  upon 
the  roofs  and  in  the  streets,  houses  were  in  flames ;  a  woman 
had  just  been  killed  at  the  corner  of  the  Rue  Pont  de  Meuse 
and  the  Place  Turenne. 

At  the  Sous-Prefecture  Delaherche  failed  to  find  Rose  at  her 
usual  station  in  the  janitor's  lodge.  Everywhere  were  evi- 
dences of  disorder;  all  the  doors  were  standing  open;  the  reign 
of  terror  had  commenced.  As  there  was  no  sentry  or  anyone 
to  prevent,  he  went  upstairs,  encountering  on  the  way  only  a 
few  scared-looking  men,  none  of  whom  made  any  offer  to  stop 
him.  He  had  reached  the  first  story  and  was  hesitating  what 
to  do  next  when  he  saw  the  young  girl  approaching  him. 

"Oh,  M.  Delaherche!  isn't  this  dreadful!  Here,  quick! 
this  way,  if  you  would  like  to  see  the  Emperor." 

On  the  left  of  the  corridor  a  door  stood  ajar,  and  through 
the  narrow  opening  a  glimpse  could  be  had  of  the  sovereign, 
who  had  resumed  his  weary,  anguished  tramp  between  the  fire- 
place and  the  window.  Back  and  forth  he  shuffled  with  heavy, 
dragging  steps,  and  ceased  not,  despite  his  unendurable  suffer- 
ing. An  aid-de-camp  had  just  entered  the  room — it  was  he 
who  had  failed  to  close  the  door  behind  him — and  Delaherche 
heard  the  Emperor  ask  him  in  a  sorrowfully  reproachful  voice; 


310  THE  DOWNFALL 

"What  is  the  reason  of  this  continued  firing,  sir,  after  I  gave 
orders  to  hoist  the  white  flag?" 

The  torture  to  him  had  become  greater  than  he  could  bear, 
that  never-ceasing  cannonade,  that  seemed  .to  grow  more  furi- 
ous with  every  minute.  Every  time  he  approached  the  window 
it  pierced  him  to  the  heart.  More  spilling  of  blood,  more  use- 
less squandering  of  human  life!  At  every  moment  the  piles  of 
corpses  were  rising  higher  on  the  battlefield,  and  his  was  the 
responsibility.  The  compassionate  instincts  that  entered  so 
largely  into  his  nature  revolted  at  it,  and  more  than  ten  times 
already  he  had  asked  that  question  of  those  who  approached 
him. 

"I  gave  orders  to  raise  the  white  flag;  tell  me,  why  do  they 
continue  firing  ?" 

The  aid-de-camp  made  answer  in  a  voice  so  low  that  Dela- 
herche failed  to  catch  its  purport.  The  Emperor,  moreover, 
seemed  not  to  pause  to  listen,  drawn  by  some  irresistible 
attraction  to  that  window  at  which,  each  time  he  approached 
it,  he  was  greeted  by  that  terrible  salvo  of  artillery  that  rent 
and  tore  his  being.  His  pallor  was  greater  even  than  it  had 
been  before;  his  poor,  pinched,  wan  face,  on  which  were  still 
visible  traces  of  the  rouge  that  had  been  applied  that  morning, 
bore  witness  to  his  anguish. 

At  that  moment  a  short,  quick-motioned  man  in  dust-soiled 
uniform,  whom  Delaherche  recognized  as  General  Lebrun, 
hurriedly  crossed  the  corridor  and  pushed  open  the  door, 
without  waiting  to  be  announced.  And  scarcely  was  he  in  the 
room  when  again  was  heard  the  Emperor's  so  oft  repeated 
question. 

"Why  do  they  continue  to  fire,  General,  when  I  have  given 
orders  to  hoist  the  white  flag?" 

The  aid-de-camp  left  the  apartment,  shutting  the  door 
behind  him,  and  Delaherche  never  knew  what  was  the  gener- 
al's answer.  The  vision  had  faded  from  his  sight. 

"Ah!"  said  Rose,  "things  are  going  badly;  I  can  see  that 
clearly  enough  by  all  those  gentlemen's  faces.  It  is  bad  for  my 
tablecloth,  too;  I  am  afraid  I  shall  never  see  it  again;  some- 
body told  me  it  had  been  torn  in  pieces.  But  it  is  for  the 
Emperor  that  I  feel  most  sorry  in  all  this  business,  for  he  is  in 
a  great  deal  worse  condition  than  the  marshal;  he  would  be 
much  better  off  in  his  bed  than  in  that  room,  where  he  is  wear- 
ing himself  out  with  his  everlasting  walking." 

She  spoke  with  much  feeling,  and  on  her  pretty  pink  and 


THE  DOWNFALL  311 

white  face  there  was  an  expression  of  sincere  pity,  but  Dela- 
herche,"  whose  Bonapartist  ardor  had  somehow  cooled  consid- 
erably during  the  last  two  days,  said  to  himself  that  she  was  a 
little  fool.  He  nevertheless  remained  chatting  with  her  a 
moment  in  the  hall  below  while  waiting  for  General  Lebrun  to 
take  his  departure,  and  when  that  officer  appeared  and  left  the 
building  he  followed  him. 

General  Lebrun  had  explained  to  the  Emperor  that  if  it  was 
thought  best  to  apply  for  an  armistice,  etiquette  demanded  that 
a  letter  to  that  effect,  signed  by  the  commander-in -chief  of  the 
French  forces,  should  be  dispatched  to  the  German  com- 
mander-in-chief.  He  had  also  offered  to  write  the  letter,  go 
in  search  of  General  de  Wimpffen,  and  obtain  his  signature  to 
it.  He  left  the  Sous-Prefecture  with  the  letter  in  his  pocket, 
but  apprehensive  he  might  not  succeed  in  finding  de  Wimpffen, 
entirely  ignorant  as  he  was  of  the  general's  whereabouts  on  the 
field  of  battle.  Within  the  ramparts  of  Sedan,  moreover,  the 
crowd  was  so  dense  that  he  was  compelled  to  walk  his  horse, 
which  enabled  Delaherche  to  keep  him  in  sight  until  he 
reached  the  Minil  gate. 

Once  outside  upon  the  road,  however,  General  Lebrun 
struck  into  a  gallop,  and  when  near  Balan  had  the  good  for- 
tune to  fall  in  with  the  chief.  Only  a  few  minutes  previous  to 
this  the  latter  had  written  to  the  Emperor:  "Sire,  come  and 
put  yourself  at  the  head  of  your  troops;  they  will  force  a 
passage  through  the  enemy's  lines  for  you,  or  perish  in  the 
attempt;"  therefore  he  flew  into  a  furious  passion  at  the  mere 
mention  of  the  word  armistice.  No,  no!  he  would  sign  noth- 
ing, he  would  fight  it  out!  This  was  about  half-past  three 
o'clock,  and  it  was  shortly  afterward  that  occurred  the  gallant, 
but  mad  attempt,  the  last  serious  effort  of  the  day,  to  pierce 
the  Bavarian  lines  and  regain  possession  of  Bazeilles.  In  order 
to  put  heart  into  the  troops  a  ruse  was  resorted  to  :  in  the 
streets  of  Sedan  and  in  the  fields  outside  the  walls  the  shout 
was  raised:  "Bazaine  is  coming  up!  Bazaine  is  at  hand!" 
Ever  since  morning  many  had  allowed  themselves  to  be  deluded 
by  that  hope;  each  time  that  the  Germans  opened  fire  with  a 
fresh  battery  it  was  confidently  asserted  to  be  the  guns  of  the 
army  of  Metz.  In  the  neighborhood  of  twelve  hundred  men 
were  collected,  soldiers  of  all  arms,  from  every  corps,  and  the 
little  column  bravely  advanced  into  the  storm  of  missiles  that 
swept  the  road,  at  double  time.  It  was  a  splendid  spectacle  of 
heroism  and  endurance  while  it  lasted;  the  numerous  casualties 


312  THE  DOWNFALL 

did  not  check  the  ardor  of  the  survivors,  nearly  five  hundred 
yards  were  traversed  with  a  courage  and  nerve  that  seemed 
almost  like  madness;  but  soon  there  were  great  gaps  in  the 
ranks,  the  bravest  began  to  fall  back.  What  could  they  do 
against  overwhelming  numbers?  It  was  a  mad  attempt,  any- 
way ;  the  desperate  effort  of  a  commander  who  could  not  bring 
himself  to  acknowledge  that  he  was  defeated.  And  it  ended 
by  General  de  Wimpffen  finding  himself  and  General  Lebrun 
alone  together  on  the  Bazeilles  road,  which  they  had  to  make 
up  their  mind  to  abandon  to  the  enemy,  for  good  and  all.  All 
that  remained  for  them  to  do  was  to  retreat  and  seek  security 
under  the  walls  of  Sedan. 

Upon  losing  sight  of  the  general  at  the  Minil  gate  Delaherche 
had  hurried  back  to  the  factory  at  the  best  speed  he  was  capa- 
ble of,  impelled  by  an  irresistible  longing  to  have  another 
look  from  his  observatory  at  what  was  going  on  in  the  dis- 
tance. Just  as  he  reached  his  door,  however,  his  progress 
was  arrested  a  moment  by  encountering  Colonel  de  Vineuil, 
who,  with  his  blood-stained  boot,  was  being  brought  in  for 
treatment  in  a  condition  of  semi-consciousness,  upon  a  bed  of 
straw  that  had  been  prepared  for  him  on  the  floor  of  a  market- 
gardener's  wagon.  The  colonel  had  persisted  in  his  efforts  to 
collect  the  scattered  fragments  of  his  regiment  until  he  dropped 
from  his  horse.  He  was  immediately  carried  upstairs  and  put 
to  bed  in  a  room  on  the  first  floor,  and  Bouroche,  who  was 
summoned  at  once,  finding  the  injury  not  of  a  serious  charac- 
ter, had  only  to  apply  a  dressing  to  the  wound,  from  which  he 
first  extracted  some  bits  of  the  leather  of  the  boot.  The 
worthy  doctor  was  wrought  up  to  a  high  pitch  of  excitement; 
he  exclaimed,  as  he  went  downstairs,  that  he  would  rather  cut 
off  one  of  his  own  legs  than  continue  working  in  that  unsatis- 
factory, slovenly  way,  without  a  tithe  of  either  the  assistants  or 
the  appliances  that  he  ought  to  have.  Below  in  the  ambulance, 
indeed,  they  no  longer  knew  where  to  bestow  the  cases  that 
were  brought  them,  and  had  been  obliged  to  have  recourse  to 
the  lawn,  where  they  laid  them  on  the  grass.  There  were 
already  two  long  rows  of  them,  exposed  beneath  the  shrieking 
shells,  filling  the  air  with  their  dismal  plaints  while  waiting  for 
his  ministrations.  The  number  of  cases  brought  in  since  noon 
exceeded  four  hundred,  and  in  response  to  Bouroche' s  repeated 
appeals  for  assistance  he  had  been  sent  one  young  doctor  from 
the  city.  Good  as  was  his  will,  he  was  unequal  to  the  task; 
he  probed,  sliced,  sawed,  sewed  like  a  man  frantic,  and  was 


THE  DOWNFALL  3T3 

reduced  to  despair  to  see  his  work  continually  accumulating 
before  him.  Gilberte,  satiated  with  sights  of  horror,  unable 
longer  to  endure  the  sad  spectacle  of  blood  and  tears,  remained 
upstairs  with  her  uncle,  the  colonel,  leaving  to  Mme.  Delaherche 
the  care  of  moistening  fevered  lips  and  wiping  the  cold  sweat 
from  the  brow  of  the  dying. 

Rapidly  climbing  the  stairs  to  his  terrace,  Delaherche  endeav- 
ored to  form  some  idea  for  himself  of  how  matters  stood.  The 
city  had  suffered  less  injury  than  was  generally  supposed; 
there  was  one  great  conflagration,  however,  over  in  the  Fau- 
bourg de  la  Cassine,  from  which  dense  volumes  of  smoke  were 
rising.  Fort  Palatinat  had  discontinued  its  fire,  doubtless 
because  the  ammunition  was  all  expended;  the  guns  mounted 
on  the  Porte  de  Paris  alone  continued  to  make  themselves 
heard  at  infrequent  intervals.  But  something  that  he  beheld 
presently  had  greater  interest  for  his  eyes  than  all  beside;  they 
had  run  up  the  white  flag  on  the  citadel  again,  but  it  must  be 
that  it  was  invisible  from  the  battlefield,  for  there  was  no  per- 
ceptible slackening  of  the  fire.  The  Balan  road  was  concealed 
from  his  vision  by  the  neighboring  roofs;  he  was  unable  to 
make  out  what  the  troops  were  doing  in  that  direction.  Ap- 
plying his  eye  to  the  telescope,  however,  which  remained  as  he 
had  left  it,  directed  on  la  Marfee,  he  again  beheld  the  cluster  of 
officers  that  he  had  seen  in  that  same  place  about  midday. 
The  master  of  them  all,  that  miniature  toy-soldier  in  lead,  half 
finger  high,  in  whom  he  had  thought  to  recognize  the  King  of 
Prussia,  was  there  still,  erect  in  his  plain,  dark  uniform  before 
the  other  officers,  who,  in  their  showy  trappings,  were  for  the 
most  part  reclining  carelessly  on  the  grass.  Among  them  were 
officers  from  foreign  lands,  aids-de-camp,  generals,  high  offi- 
cials, princes;  all  of  them  with  field  glasses  in  their  hands,  with 
which,  since  early  morning,  they  had  been  watching  every 
phase  of  the  death-struggle  of  the  army  of  Chalons,  as  if  they 
were  at  the  play.  And  the  direful  drama  was  drawing  to  its  end. 

From  among  the  trees  that  clothed  the  summit  of  la  Marfee 
King  William  had  just  witnessed  the  junction  of  his  armies.  It 
was  an  accomplished  fact;  the  third  army,  under  the  leadership 
of  his  son,  the  Crown  Prince,  advancing  by  the  way  of  Saint- 
Menges  and  Fleigneux,  had  secured  possession  of  the  plateau  of 
Illy,  while  the  fourth,  commanded  by  the  Crown  Prince  of 
Saxony,  turning  the  wood  of  la  Garenne  and,  coming  up 
through  Givonne  and  Daigny,  had  also  reached  its  appointed 
rendezvous.  There,  too,  the  Xlth  and  Vth  corps  had  joined 


3U  THE  DOWNFALL 

hands  with  the  Xllth  corps  and  the  Guards.  The  gallant  but 
ineffectual  charge  of  Margueritte's  division  in  its  supreme  effort 
to  break  through  the  hostile  lines  at  the  very  moment  when  the 
circle  was  being  rounded  out  had  elicited  from  the  king  the 
exclamation:  "Ah,  the  brave  fellows!"  Now  the  great  move- 
ment, inexorable  as  fate,  the  details  of  which  had  been 
arranged  with  such  mathematical  precision,  was  complete,  the 
jaws  of  the  vise  had  closed,  and  stretching  on  his  either  hand 
far  in  -the  distance,  a  mighty  wall  of  adamant  surrounding  the 
army  of  the  French,  were  the  countless  men  and  guns  that 
called  him  master.  At  the  north  the  contracting  lines  main- 
tained a  constantly  increasing  pressure  on  the  vanquished,  for- 
cing them  back  upon  Sedan  under  the  merciless  fire  of  the  bat- 
teries that  lined  the  horizon  in  an  array  without  a  break. 
Toward  the  south,  at  Bazeilles,  where  the  conflict  had  ceased 
to  rage  and  the  scene  was  one  of  mournful  desolation,  great 
clouds  of  smoke  were  rising  from  the  ruins  of  what  had  once 
been  happy  homes,  while  the  Bavarians,  now  masters  of  Balan, 
had  advanced  their  batteries  to  within  three  hundred  yards  of 
the  city  gates.  And  the  other  batteries,  those  posted  on  the 
left  bank  at  Pont  Maugis,  Noyers,  Frenois,  Wadelincourt. 
completing  the  impenetrable  rampart  of  flame  and  bringing  it 
around  to  the  sovereign's  feet  on  his  right,  that  had  been 
spouting  fire  uninterruptedly  for  nearly  twelve  hours,  now 
thundered  more  loudly  still. 

But  King  William,  to  give  his  tired  eyes  a  moment's  rest, 
dropped  his  glass  to  his  side  and  continued  his  observations 
with  unassisted  vision.  The  sun  was  slanting  downward  to  the 
woods  on  his  left,  about  to  set  in  a  sky  where  there  was  not  a 
cloud,  and  the  golden  light  that  lay  upon  the  landscape  was  so 
transcendently  clear  and  limpid  that  the  most  insignificant 
objects  stood  out  with  startling  distinctness.  He  could  almost 
count  the  houses  in  Sedan,  whose  windows  flashed  back  the 
level  rays  of  the  departing  day-star,  and  the  ramparts  and  forti- 
fications, outlined  in  black  against  the  eastern  sky,  had  an 
unwonted  aspect  of  frowning  massiveness.  Then,  scattered 
among  the  fields  to  right  and  left,  were  the  pretty,  smiling  vil- 
lages, reminding  one  of  the  toy  villages  that  come  packed  in 
boxes  for  the  little  ones;  to  the  west  Donchery,  seated  at  the 
border  of  her  broad  plain  ;  Douzy  and  Carignan  to  the  east, 
among  the  meadows.  Shutting  in  the  picture  to  the  north  was 
the  forest  of  the  Ardennes,  an  ocean  of  sunlit  verdure,  while 
the  Meuse,  loitering  with  sluggish  current  through  the  plain 


THE  DOWNFALL  315 

with  many  a  bend  and  curve,  was  like  a  stream  of  purest 
molten  gold  in  that  caressing  light.  And  seen  from  that 
height,  with  the  sun's  parting  kiss  resting  on  it,  the  horrible 
battlefield,  with  its  blood  and  smoke,  became  an  exquisite  and 
highly  finished  miniature;  the  dead  horsemen  and  disembow- 
eled steeds  on  the  plateau  of  Floing  were  so  many  splashes  of 
bright  color;  on  the  right,  in  the  direction  of  Givonne,  those 
minute  black  specks  that  whirled  and  eddied  with  such  appar- 
ent lack  of  aim,  like  motes  dancing  in  the  sunshine,  were  the 
retreating  fragments  of  the  beaten  army;  while  on  the  left  a 
Bavarian  battery  on  the  peninsula  of  Iges,  its  guns  the  size  of 
matches,  might  have  been  taken  for  some  mechanical  toy  as  it 
performed  its  evolutions  with  clockwork  regularity.  The  vic- 
tory was  crushing,  exceeding  all  that  the  victor  could  have 
desired  or  hoped,  and  the  King  felt  no  remorse  in  presence  of 
all  those  corpses,  of  those  thousands  of  men  that  were  as  the 
dust  upon  the  roads  of  that  broad  valley  where,  notwithstand- 
ing the  burning  of  Bazeilles,  the  slaughter  of  Illy,  the  anguish 
of  Sedan,  impassive  nature  yet  could  don  her  gayest  robe  and 
put  on  her  brightest  smile  as  the  perfect  day  faded  into  the 
tranquil  evening. 

But  suddenly  Delaherche  descried  a  French  officer  climbing 
the  steep  path  up  the  flank  of  la  Marfee;  he  was  a  general, 
wearing  a  blue  tunic,  mounted  on  a  black  horse,  and  preceded 
by  a  hussar  bearing  a  white  flag.  It  was  General  Reille,  whom 
the  Emperor  had  entrusted  with  this  communication  for  the 
King  of  Prussia:  "My  brother,  as  it  has  been  denied  me  to 
die  at  the  head  of  my  army,  all  that  is  left  me  is  to  surrender 
my  sword  to  Your  Majesty.  I  am  Your  Majesty's  affectionate 
brother,  Napoleon."  Desiring  to  arrest  the  butchery  and 
being  no  longer  master,  the  Emperor  yielded  himself  a  pris- 
oner, in  the  hope  to  placate  the  conqueror  by  the  sacrifice. 
And  Delaherche  saw  General  Reille  rein  up  his  charger  and 
dismount  at  ten  paces  from  the  King,  then  advance  and  deliver 
his  letter;  he  was  unarmed  and  merely  carried  a  riding  whip. 
The  sun  was  setting  in  a  flood  of  rosy  light;  the  King  seated 
himself  on  a  chair  in  the  midst  of  a  grassy  open  space,  and 
resting  his  hand  on  the  back  of  another  chair  that  was  held  in 
place  by  a  secretary,  replied  that  he  accepted  the  sword  and 
would  await  the  appearance  of  an  officer  empowered  to  settle 
the  terms  of  the  capitulation. 


316  THE  DOWNFALL 


VII. 

AS  when  the  ice  breaks  up  and  the  great  cakes  come  crash- 
ing, grinding  down  upon  the  bosom  of  the  swollen  stream, 
carrying  away  all  before  them,  so  now,  from  every  position 
about  Sedan  that  had  been  wrested  from  the  French,  from 
Floing  and  the  plateau  of  Illy,  from  the  wood  of  <la  Garenne, 
the  valley  of  la  Givonne  and  the  Bazeilles  road,  the  stampede 
commenced;  a  mad  torrent  of  horses,  guns,  and  affrighted  men 
came  pouring  toward  the  city.  It  was  a  most  unfortunate 
inspiration  that  brought  the  army  under  the  walls  of  that  forti- 
fied place.  There  was  too  much  in  the  way  of  temptation 
there;  the  shelter  that  it  afforded  the  skulker  and  the  deserter, 
the  assurance  of  safety  that  even  the  bravest  beheld  behind 
its  ramparts,  entailed  widespread  panic  and  demoralization. 
Down  there  behind  those  protecting  walls,  so  everyone  imag- 
ined, was  safety  from  that  terrible  artillery  that  had  been  blaz- 
ing without  intermission  for  near  twelve  hours;  duty,  manhood, 
reason  were  all  lost  sight  of;  the  man  disappeared  and  was 
succeeded  by  the  brute,  and  their  fierce  instinct  sent  them 
racing  wildly  for  shelter,  seeking  a  place  where  they  might  hide 
their  head  and  lie  down  and  sleep. 

When  Maurice,  bathing  Jean's  face  with  cool  water  behind 
the  shelter  of  their  bit  of  wall,  saw  his  friend  open  his  eyes 
once  more,  he  uttered  an  exclamation  of  delight. 

"Ah,  poor  old  chap,  I  was  beginning  to  fear  you  were  done 
for!  And  don't  think  I  say  it  to  find  fault,  but  really  you  are 
not  so  light  as  you  were  when  you  were  a  boy." 

It  seemed  to  Jean,  in  his  still  dazed  condition,  that  he  was 
awaking  from  some  unpleasant  dream.  Then  his  recollection 
returned  to  him  slowly,  and  two  big  tears  rolled  down  his 
cheeks.  To  think  that  little  Maurice,  so  frail  and  slender, 
whom  he  had  loved  and  petted  like  a  child,  should  have  found 
strength  to  lug  him  all  that  distance! 

"Let's  see  what  damage  your  knowledge-box  has  sus- 
tained." 

The  wound  was  not  serious;  the  bullet  had  plowed  its  way 
through  the  scalp  and  considerable  blood  had  flowed.  The 
hair,  which  was  now  matted  with  the  coagulated  gore,  had 
served  to  stanch  the  current,  therefore  Maurice  refrained  from 
applying  water  to  the  hurt,  so  as  not  to  cause  it  to  bleed  afresh. 

''There,  you  lock  a  little  more  like  a  civilized  being,  now 


THE  DOWNFALL  317 

that  you  have  a  clean  face  on  you.  Let's  see  if  I  can  find 
something  for  you  to  wear  on  your  head."  And  picking  up 
the  kepi  of  a  soldier  who  lay  dead  not  far  away,  he  tenderly 
adjusted  it  on  his  comrade.  "It  fits  you  to  a  T.  Now  if  you 
can  only  walk  everyone  will  say  we  are  a  very  good-looking 
couple." 

Jean  got  on  his  legs  and  gave  his  head  a  shake  to  assure  him- 
self it  was  secure.  It  seemed  a  little  heavier  than  usual,  that 
was  all;  he  thought  he  should  get  along  well  enough.  A  great 
wave  of  tenderness  swept  through  his  simple  soul;  he  caught 
Maurice  in  his  arms  and  hugged  him  to  his  bosom,  while  all 
he  could  find  to  say  was: 

"Ah!  dear  boy,  dear  boy!" 

But  the  Prussians  were  drawing  near  :  it  would  not  answer  to 
loiter  behind  the  wall.  Already  Lieutenant  Rochas,  with  what 
few  men  were  left  him,  was  retreating,  guarding  the  flag,  which 
the  sous-lieutenant  still  carried  under  his  arm,  rolled  around 
the  staff.  Lapoulle's  great  height  enabled  him  to  fire  an  occa- 
sional shot  at  the  advancing  enemy  over  the  coping  of  the  wall, 
while  Pache  had  slung  his  chassepot  across  his  shoulder  by  the 
strap,  doubtless  considering  that  he  had  done  a  fair  day's 
work  and  it  was  time  to  eat  and  sleep.  Maurice  and  Jean, 
stooping  until  they  were  bent  almost  double,  hastened  to  rejoin 
them.  There  was  no  scarcity  of  muskets  and  ammunition;  all 
they  had  to  do  was  stoop  and  pick  them  up.  They  equipped 
themselves  afresh,  having  left  everything  behind,  knapsacks 
included,  when  one  lugged  the  other  out  of  danger  on  his 
shoulders.  The  wall  extended  to  the  wood  of  la  Garenne,  and 
the  little  band,  believing  that  now  their  safety  was  assured, 
made  a,  rush  for  the  protection  afforded  by  some  farm  build- 
ings, whence  they  readily  gained  the  shelter  of  the  trees. 

"Ah!"  said  Rochas,  drawing  a  long  breath,  "we  will  remain 
here  a  moment  and  get  our  wind  before  we  resume  the  offen- 
sive." No  adversity  could  shake  his  unwavering  faith. 

They  had  not  advanced  many  steps  before  all  felt  that  they 
were  entering  the  valley  of  death,  but  it  was  useless  to  think  of 
retracing  their  steps:  their  only  line  of  retreat  lay  through  the 
wood,  and  cross  it  they  must,  at  every  hazard.  At  that  time, 
instead  of  la  Garenne,  its  more  fitting  name  would  have  been 
the  wood  of  despair  and  death;  the  Prussians,  knowing  that 
the  French  troops  were  retiring  in  that  direction,  were  riddling 
it  with  artillery  and  musketry.  Its  shattered  branches  tossed 
and  groaned  as  if  enduring  the  scourging  of  a  mighty  tempest, 


3l8  THE   DOWNFALL 

The  shells  hewed  down  the  stalwart  trees,  the  bullets  brought 
the  leaves  fluttering  to  the  earth  in  showers;  wailing  voices 
seemed  to  issue  from  the  cleft  trunks,  sobs  accompanied  the 
little  twigs  as  they  fell  bleeding  from  the  parent  stem.  It 
might  have  been  taken  for  the  agony  of  some  vast  multitude, 
held  there  in  chains  and  unable  to  flee  under  the  pelting  of 
that  pitiless  iron  hail;  the  shrieks,  the  terror  of  thousands  of 
creatures  rooted  to  the  ground.  Never  was  anguish  so 
poignant  as  of  that  bombarded  forest. 

Maurice  and  Jean,  who  by  this  time  had  caught  up  with  their 
companions,  were  greatly  alarmed.  The  wood  where  they 
then  were  was  a  growth  of  large  trees,  and  there  was  no  obsta- 
cle to  their  running,  but  the  bullets  came  whistling  about  their 
ears  from  every  direction,  making  it  impossible  for  them  to 
avail  themselves  of  the  shelter  of  the  trunks.  Two  men  were 
killed,  one  of  them  struck  in  the  back,  the  other  in  front.  A 
venerable  oak,  directly  in  Maurice's  path,  had  its  trunk  shat- 
tered by  a  shell,  and  sank,  with  the  stately  grace  of  a  mailed 
paladin,  carrying  down  all  before  it,  and  even  as  the  young 
man  was  leaping  back  the  top  of  a  gigantic  ash  on  his  left, 
struck  by  another  shell,  came  crashing  to  the  ground  like  some 
tall  cathedral  spire.  Where  could  they  fly?  whither  bend  their 
steps?  Everywhere  the  branches  were  falling;  it  was  as  one 
who  should  endeavor  to  fly  from  some  vast  edifice  menaced 
with  destruction,  only  to  find  himself  in  each  room  he  enters 
in  succession  confronted  with  crumbling  walls  and  ceilings. 
And  when,  in  order  to  escape  being  crushed  by  the  big  trees, 
they  took  refuge  in  a  thicket  of  bushes,  Jean  came  near  being 
killed  by  a  projectile,  only  it  fortunately  failed  to  explode. 
They  could  no  longer  make  any  progress  now  on  account  of 
the  dense  growth  of  the  shrubbery;  the  supple  branches  caught 
them  around  the  shoulders,  the  rank,  tough  grass  held  them  by 
the  ankles,  impenetrable  walls  of  brambles  rose  before  them 
and  blocked  their  way,  while  all  the  time  the  foliage  was  flut- 
tering down  about  them,  clipped  by  the  gigantic  scythe  that 
was  mowing  down  the  wood.  Another  man  was  struck  dead 
beside  them  by  a  bullet  in  the  forehead,  and  he  retained  his 
erect  position,  caught  in  some  vines  between  two  small  birch 
trees.  Twenty  times,  while  they  were  prisoners  in  that  thicket, 
did  they  feel  death  hovering  over  them. 

"Holy  Virgin!"  said  Maurice,  "we  shall  never  get  out  of 
this  alive." 

His  face  was  ashy  pale,  he  was  shivering  again  with  terror-, 


THE  DOWNFALL  319 

and  Jean,  always  so  brave,  who  had  cheered  and  comforted 
him  that  morning,  he,  also,  was  very  white  and  felt  a  strange, 
chill  sensation  creeping  down  his  spine.  It  was  fear,  horrible, 
contagious,  irresistible  fear.  Again  they  were  conscious  of  a 
consuming  thirst,  an  intolerable  dryness  of  the  mouth,  a  con- 
traction of  the  throat,  painful  as  if  someone  were  choking  them. 
These  symptoms  were  accompanied  by  nausea  and  qualms  at 
the  pit  of  the  stomach,  while  maleficent  goblins  kept  punctur- 
ing their  aguish,  trembling  legs  with  needles.  Another  of  the 
physical  effects  of  their  fear  was  that  in  the  congested  condi- 
tion of  the  blood  vessels  of  the  retina  they  beheld  thousands 
upon  thousands  of  small  black  specks  flitting  past  them,  as  if 
it  had  been  possible  to  distinguish  the  flying  bullets. 

"Confound  the  luck!"  Jean  stammered.  "It  is  not  worth 
speaking  of,  but  it's  vexatious  all  the  same,  to  be  here  getting 
one's  head  broken  for  other  folks,  when  those  other  folks  are 
at  home,  smoking  their  pipe  in  comfort." 

"Yes,  that's  so,"  Maurice  replied,  with  a  wild  look.  "Why 
should  it  be  I  rather  than  someone  else?" 

It  was  the  revolt  of  the  individual  Ego,  the  unaltruistic 
refusal  of  the  one  to  make  himself  a  sacrifice  for  the  benefit  of 
the  species. 

"And  then  again,"  Jean  continued,  "if  a  fellow  could  but 
know  the  rights  of  the  matter;  if  he  could  be  sure  that  any 
good  was  to  come  from  it  all."  Then  turning  his  head  and 
glancing  at  the  western  sky:  "Anyway,  I  wish  that  blamed  sun 
would  hurry  up  and  go  to  roost.  Perhaps  they'll  stop  fighting 
when  it's  dark." 

With  no  distinct  idea  of  what  o'clock  it  was  and  no  means 
of  measuring  the  flight  of  time,  he  had  long  been  watching  the 
tardy  declination  of  the  fiery  disk,  which  seemed  to  him  to  have 
ceased  to  move,  hanging  there  in  the  heavens  over  the  woods 
of  the  left  bank.  And  this  was  not  owing  to  any  lack  of  cour- 
age on  his  part;  it  was  simply  the  overmastering,  ever  increas- 
ing desire,  amounting  to  an  imperious  necessity,  to  be  relieved 
from  the  screaming  and  whistling  of  those  projectiles,  to  run 
away  somewhere  and  find  a  hole  where  he  might  hide  his  head 
and  lose  himself  in  oblivion.  Were  it  not  for  the  feeling  of 
shame  that  is  implanted  in  men's  breasts  and  keeps  them  from 
showing  the  white  feather  before  their  comrades,  every  one  of 
them  would  lose  his  head  and  run,  in  spite  of  himself,  like 
the  veriest  poltroon. 

Maurice  and   Jean,   meanwhile,   were  becoming  somewhat 


$20  THE  DOWNFALL 

more  accustomed  to  their  surroundings,  and  even  when  their 
terror  was  at  its  highest  there  came  to  them  a  sort  of  exalted 
self-unconsciousness  that  had  in  it  something  of  bravery. 
They  finally  reached  a  point  when  they  did  not  even  hasten 
their  steps  as  they  made  their  way  through  the  accursed  wood. 
The  horror  of  the  bombardment  was  even  greater  than  it  had 
been  previously  among  that  race  of  sylvan  denizens,  killed  at 
their  post,  struck  down  on  every  hand,  like  gigantic,  faithful 
sentries.  In  the  delicious  twilight  that  reigned,  golden-green, 
beneath  their  umbrageous  branches,  among  the  mysterious 
recesses  of  romantic,  moss-carpeted  retreats,  Death  showed  his 
ill-favored,  grinning  face.  The  solitary  fountains  were  con- 
taminated; men  fell  dead  in  distant  nooks  whose  depths  had 
hitherto  been  trod  by  none  save  wandering  lovers.  A  bullet 
pierced  a  man's  chest;  he  had  time  to  utter  the  one  word: 
"hit!"  and  fell  forward  on  his  face,  stone  dead.  Upon  the 
lips  of  another,  who  had  both  legs  broken  by  a  shell,  the  gay 
laugh  remained;  unconscious  of  his  hurt,  he  supposed  he  had 
tripped  over  a  root.  Others,  injured  mortally,  would  run  on 
for  some  yards,  jesting  and  conversing,  until  suddenly  they 
went  down  like  a  log  in  the  supreme  convulsion.  The  severest 
wounds  were  hardly  felt  at  the  moment  they  were  received;  it 
was  only  at  a  later  period  that  the  terrible  suffering  com- 
menced, venting  itself  in  shrieks  and  hot  tears. 

Ah,  that  accursed  wood,  that  wood  of  slaughter  and  despair, 
where,  amid  the  sobbing  of  the  expiring  trees,  arose  by  degrees 
and  swelled  the  agonized  clamor  of  wounded  men.  Maurice 
and  Jean  saw  a  zouave,  nearly  disemboweled,  propped  against 
the  trunk  of  an  oak,  who  kept  up  a  most  terrific  howling,  with- 
out a  moment's  intermission.  A  little  way  beyond  another 
man  was  actually  being  slowly  roasted;  his  clothing  had  taken 
fire  and  the  flames  had  run  up  and  caught  his  beard,  while  he, 
paralyzed  by  a  shot  that  had  broken  his  back,  was  silently 
weeping  scalding  tears.  Then  there  was  a  captain,  who,  one 
arm  torn  from  its  socket  and  his  flank  laid  open  to  the  thigh, 
was  writhing  on  the  ground  in  agony  unspeakable,  beseeching, 
in  heartrending  accents,  the  by-passers  to  end  his  suffering. 
There  were  others,  and  others,  and  others  still,  whose  torments 
may  not  be  described,  strewing  the  grass-grown  paths  in  such 
numbers  that  the  utmost  caution  was  required  to  avoid  tread- 
ing them  under  foot.  But  the  dead  and  wounded  has  ceased 
to  count;  the  comrade  who  fell  by  the  way  was  abandoned  to 
his  fate,  forgotten  as  if  he  had  never  been.  No  one  turned  to 


THE  DOWNFALL  J2l 

look  behind.  It  was  his  destiny,  poor  devil!  Next  it  would  be 
someone  else,  themselves,  perhaps. 

They  were  approaching  the  edge  of  the  wood  when  a  cry  of 
distress  was  heard  behind  them. 

"Help!  help!" 

It  was  the  subaltern  standard-bearer,  who  had  been  shot 
through  the  left  lung.  He  had  fallen,  the  blood  pouring  in  a 
stream  from  his  mouth,  and  as  no  one  heeded  his  appeal  he 
collected  his  fast  ebbing  strength  for  another  effort: 

"To  the  colors!" 

Rochas  turned  and  in  a  single  bound  was  at  his  side.  He 
took  the  flag,  the  staff  of  which  had  been  broken  in  the  fall, 
while  the  young  officer  murmured  in  words  that  were  choked 
by  the  bubbling  tide  of  blood  and  froth : 

"Never  mind  me;  I  am  a  goner.     Save  the  flag!" 

And  they  left  him  to  himself  in  that  charming  woodland 
glade  to  writhe  in  protracted  agony  upon  the  ground,  tear- 
ing up  the  grass  with  his  stiffening  fingers  and  praying  for 
death,  which  would  be  hours  yet  ere  it  came  to  end  his 
misery. 

At  last  they  had  left  the  wood  and  its  horrors  behind  them. 
Beside  Maurice  and  Jean  all  that  were  left  of  the  little  band 
were  Lieutenant  Rochas,  Lapoulle  and  Pache.  Gaude,  who 
had  strayed  away  from  his  companions,  presently  came  running 
from  a  thicket  to  rejoin  them,  his  bugle  hanging  from  his  neck 
and  thumping"  against  his  back  with  every  step  he  took.  It 
was  a  great  comfort  to  them  all  to  find  themselves  once  again 
in  the  open  country,  where  they  could  draw  their  breath;  'and 
then,  too,  there  were  no  longer  any  whistling  bullets  and  crash- 
ing shells  to  harass  them;  the  firing  had  ceased  on  this  side  of 
the  valley. 

The  first  object  they  set  eyes  on  was  an  officer  who  had 
reined  in  his  smoking,  steaming  charger  before  a  farm-yard  gate 
and  was  venting  his  towering  rage  in  a  volley  of  Billingsgate. 
It  was  General  Bourgain-Desfeuilles,  the  commander  of  their 
brigade,  covered  with  dust  and  looking  as  if  he  was  about  to 
tumble  from  his  horse  with  fatigue.  The  chagrin  on  his  gross, 
high-colored,  animal  face  told  how  deeply  he  took  to  heart  the 
disaster  that  he  regarded  in  the  light  of  a  personal  misfortune. 
His  command  had  seen  nothing  of  him  since  morning.  Doubt- 
less he  was  somewhere  on  the  battlefield,  striving  to  rally  the 
remnants  of  his  brigade,  for  he  was  not  the  man  to  look  closely 
to  his  own  safety  in  his  rage  against  those  Prussian  batteries 


322  THE  DOWNFALL 

that  had  at  the  same  time  destroyed  the  empire  and  the  for- 
tunes of  a  rising  officer,  the  favorite  of  the  Tuileries. 

4 '  Tonnerre  de  Dieu  /  "  he  shouted,  '  'is  there  no  one  of  whom 
one  can  ask  a  question  in  this  d — d  country?" 

The  farmer's  people  had  apparently  taken  to  the  woods. 
At  last  a  very- old  woman  appeared  at  the  door,  some  servant 
who  had  been  forgotten,  or  whose  feeble  legs  had  compelled 
her  to  remain  behind. 

"Hallo,  old  lady,  come  here!  Which  way  from  here  is 
Belgium?" 

She  looked  at  him  stupidly,  as  one  who  failed  to  catch  his 
meaning.  Then  he  lost  all  control  of  himself  and  effervesced, 
forgetful  that  the  woman  was  only  a  poor  peasant,  bellowing 
that  he  had  no  idea  of  going  back  to  Sedan  to  be  caught  like  a 
rat  in  a  trap;  not  he!  he  was  going  to  make  tracks  for  foreign 
parts,  he  was,  and  d — d  quick,  too!  Some  soldiers  had 
come  up  and  stood  listening. 

"But  you  won't  get  through,  General,"  spoke  up  a  sergeant; 
"the  Prussians  are  everywhere.  This  morning  was  the  time 
for  you  to  cut  stick." 

There  were  stories  even  then  in  circulation  of  companies  that 
had  become  separated  from  their  regiments  and  crossed  the 
frontier  without  any  intention  of  doing  so,  and  of  others  that, 
later  in  the  day,  had  succeeded  in  breaking  through  the  ene- 
my's lines  before  the  armies  had  effected  their  final  junction. 

The  general  shrugged  his  shoulders  impatiently.  "What, 
with  a  few  daring  fellows  of  your  stripe,  do  you  mean  to  say 
we*couldn't  go  where  we  please?  I  think  I  can  find  fifty  dare- 
devils to  risk  their  skin  in  the  attempt."  Then,  turning  again 
to  the  old  peasant:  "Eh!  you  old  mummy,  answer,  will  you, 
in  the  devil's  name!  where  is  the  frontier?" 

She  understood  him  this  time.  She  extended  her  skinny 
arm  in  the  direction  of  the  forest. 

"That  way,  that  way!" 

"Eh?  What's  that  you  say?  Those  houses  that  we  see 
down  there,  at  the  end  of  the  field?" 

"Oh'  farther,  much  farther.  Down  yonder,  away  down 
yonder!" 

The  general  seemed  as  if  his  anger  must  suffocate  him.  "It 
is  too  disgusting,  an  infernal  country  like  this!  one  can  make 
neither  top  nor  tail  of  it.  There  was  Belgium,  right  under  our 
nose;  we  were  all  afraid  we  should  put  our  foot  in  it  without 
knowing  it;  and  now  that  one  wants  to  go  there  it  is  some- 


THE  DOWNFALL  323 

where  else.  No,  no!  it  is  too  much ;  I've  had  enough  of  it; 
let  them  take  me  prisoner  if  they  will,  let  them  do  what  they 
choose  with  me;  I  am  going  to  bed!"  And  clapping  spurs  to 
his  horse,  bobbing  up  and  down  on  his  saddle  like  an  inflated 
wine  skin,  he  galloped  off  toward  Sedan. 

A  winding  path  conducted  the  party  down  into  the  Fond  de 
Givonne,  an  outskirt  of  the  city  lying  between  two  hills,  where 
the  single  village  street,  running  north  and  south  and  sloping 
gently  upward  toward  the  forest,  was  lined  with  gardens  and 
modest  houses.  This  street  was  just  then  so  obstructed  by 
flying  soldiers  that  Lieutenant  Rochas,  with  Pache,  Lapoulle, 
and  Gaude,  found  himself  caught  in  the  throng  and  unable  for 
the  moment  to  move  in  either  direction.  Maurice  and  Jean 
had  some  difficulty  in  rejoining  them  ;  and  all  were  surprised  to 
hear  themselves  hailed  by  a  husky,  drunken  voice,  proceeding 
from  the  tavern  on  the  corner,  near  which  they  were  blockaded. 

"My  stars,  if  here  ain't  the  gang!  Hallo,  boys,  how  are 
you?  My  stars,  I'm  glad  to  see  you!" 

They  turned,  and  recognized  Chouteau,  leaning  from  a  win- 
dow of  the  ground  floor  of  the  inn.  He  seemed  to  be  very 
drunk,  and  went  oh,  interspersing  his  speech  with  hiccoughs: 

"Say,  fellows,  don't  stand  on  ceremony  if  you're  thirsty. 
There's  enough  left  for  the  comrades."  He  turned  unsteadily 
and  called  to  someone  who  was  invisible  within  the  room  : 
"Come  here,  you  lazybones.  Give  these  gentlemen  something 
to  drink " 

Loubet  appeared  in  turn,  advancing  with  a  flourish  and 
holding  aloft  in  either  hand  a  full  bottle,  which  he  waved  above 
his  head  triumphantly.  He  was  not  so  far  gone  as  his  com- 
panion; with  his  Parisian  blague,  imitating  the  nasal  drawl  of 
the  coco-venders  of  the  boulevards  on  a  public  holiday,  he 
cried : 

"Here  you  are,  nice  and  cool,  nice  and  cool!  Who'll  have 
a  drink?" 

Nothing  had  been  seen  of  the  precious  pair  since  they  had 
vanished  under  pretense  of  taking  Sergeant  Sapin  into  the  am- 
bulance. It  was  sufficiently  evident  that  since  then  they  had 
been  strolling  and  seeing  the  sights,  taking  care  to  keep  out  of 
Jhe  way  of  the  shells,  until  finally  they  had  brought  up  at  this 
inn  that  was  given  over  to  pillage. 

Lieutenant  Rochas  was  very  angry.  "Wait  a  bit,  you  scoun- 
drels, just  wait,  and  I'll  attend  to  your  case!  deserting  and 
getting  drunk  while  the  rest  of  your  company  were  under  fire ! " 


324  THE  DOWNFALL 

But  Chouteau  would  have  none  of  his  reprimand.  "See  here, 
you  old  lunatic,  I  want  you  to  understand  that  the  grade  of 
lieutenant  is  abolished  ;  we  are  all  free  and  equal  now.  Aren't 
you  satisfied  with  the  basting  the  Prussians  gave  you  to-day, 
or  do  you  want  some  more?" 

The  others  had  to  restrain  the  lieutenant  to  keep  him  from 
assaulting  the  socialist.  Loubet  himself,  dandling  his  bottles 
affectionately  in  his  arms,  did  what  he  could  to  pour  oil  upon 
the  troubled  waters. 

"Quit  that,  now!  what's  the  use  quarreling,  when  all  men 
are  brothers!"  And  catching  sight  of  Lapoulle  and  Pache,  his 
companions  in  the  squad :  ' ' Don't  stand  there  like  great  gawks, 
you  fellows!  Come  in  here  and  take  something  to  wash  the 
dust  out  of  your  throats." 

Lapoulle  hesitated  a  moment,  dimly  conscious  of  the  impro- 
priety there  was  in  the  indulgence  when  so  many  poor  devils 
were  in  such  sore  distress,  but  he  was  so  knocked  up  with 
fatigue,  so  terribly  hungry  and  thirsty!  He  said  not  a  word, 
but  suddenly  making  up  his  mind,  gave  one  bound  and  landed 
in  the  room,  pushing  before  him  Pache,  who,  equally  silent, 
yielded  to  the  temptation  he  had  not  strength  to  resist.  And 
they  were  seen  no  more. 

"The  infernal  scoundrels!"  muttered  Rochas.  "They 
deserve  to  be  shot,  every  mother's  son  of  them!  " 

He  had  now  remaining  with  him  of  his  party  only  Jean, 
Maurice,  and  Gaude,  and  all  four  of  them,  notwithstanding 
their  resistance,  were  gradually  involved  and  swallowed  up  in 
the  torrent  of  stragglers  and  fugitives  that  streamed  along  the 
road,  filling  its  whole  width  from  ditch  to  ditch.  Soon  they 
were  at  a  distance  from  the  inn.  It  was  the  routed  army  roll- 
ing down  upon  the  ramparts  of  Sedan,  a  roily,  roaring  flood, 
such  as  the  disintegrated  mass  of  earth  and  boulders  that  the 
storm,  scouring  the  mountainside,  sweeps  down  into  the  valley. 
From  all  the  surrounding  plateaus,  down  every  slope,  up  every 
narrow  gorge,  by  the  Floing  road,  by  Pierremont,  by  the  ceme- 
tery, by  the  Champ  de  Mars,  as  well  as  through  the  Fond  de 
Givonne,  the  same  sorry  rabble  was  streaming  cityward  in 
panic  haste,  and  every  instant  brought  fresh  accessions  to  its 
numbers.  And  who  could  reproach  those  wretched  men,  who, 
for  twelve  long,  mortal  hours,  had  stood  in  motionless  array 
under  the  murderous  artillery  of  an  invisible  enemy,  against 
whom  they  could  do  nothing?  The  batteries  now  were  play- 
ing on  them  from  front,  flank,  and  rear ;  as  they  drew  nearer 


THE  DOWNFALL  325 

the  city  they  presented  a  fairer  mark  for  the  convergent  fire; 
the  guns  dealt  death  and  destruction  out  by  wholesale  on  that 
dense,  struggling  mass  of  men  in  that  accursed  hole,  where 
there  was  no  escape  from  the  bursting  shells.  Some  regiments 
of  the  yth  corps,  more  particularly  those  that  had  been  sta- 
tioned about  Floing,  had  left  the  field  in  tolerably  good  order, 
but  in  the  Fond  de  Givonne  there  was  no  longer  either  organ- 
ization or  command ;  the  troops  were  a  pushing,  struggling 
mob,  composed  of  cUbris  from  regiments  of  every  description, 
zouaves,  turcos,  chasseurs,  infantry  of  the  line,  most  of  them 
without  arms,  their  uniforms  soiled  and  torn,  with  grimy 
hands,  blackened  faces,  bloodshot  eyes  starting  from  their 
sockets  and  lips  swollen  and  distorted  from  their  yells  of  fear 
or  rage.  At  times  a  riderless  horse  would  dash  through  the 
throng,  overturning  those  who  were  in  his  path  and  leaving 
behind  him  a  long  wake  of  consternation.  Then  some  guns 
went  thundering  by  at  breakneck  speed,  a  retreating  battery 
abandoned  by  its  officers,  and  the  drivers,  as  if  drunk,  rode 
down  everything  and  everyone,  giving  no  word  of  warning. 
And  still  the  shuffling  tramp  of  many  feet  along  the  dusty 
road  went  on  and  ceased  not,  the  close-compacted  column 
pressed  on,  breast  to  back,  side  to  side;  a  retreat  en  masse , 
where  vacancies  in  the  ranks  were  filled  as  soon  as  made,  all 
moved  by  one  common  impulse,  to  reach  the  shelter  that  lay 
before  them  and  be  behind  a  wall. 

Again  Jean  raised  his  head  and  gave  an  anxious  glance 
toward  the  west;  through  the  dense  clouds  of  dust  raised  by 
the  tramp  of  that  great  multitude  the  luminary  still  poured  his 
scorching  rays  down  upon  the  exhausted  men.  The  sunset 
was  magnificent,  the  heavens  transparently,  beautifully  blue. 

"It's  a  nuisance,  all  the  same,"  he  muttered,  "that  plaguey 
sun  that  stays  up  there  and  won't  go  to  roost!" 

Suddenly  Maurice  became  aware  of  the  presence  of  a  young 
woman  whom  the  movement  of  the  resistless  throng  had 
jammed  against  a  wall  and  who  was  in  danger  of  being  injured, 
and  on  looking  more  attentively  was  astounded  to  recognize  in 
her  his  sister  Henrietta.  For  near  a  minute  he  stood  gazing  at 
her  in  open-mouthed  amazement,  and  finally  it  was  she  who 
spoke,  without  any  appearance  of  surprise,  as  if  she  found  the 
meeting  entirely  natural. 

"They  shot  him  at  Bazeilles — and  I  was  there.  Then,  in 
the  hope  that  they  might  at  least  let  me  have  his  body,  I  had 
an  idea -" 


326  THE  DOWNFALL 

She  did  not  mention  either  Weiss  or  the  Prussians  by  name; 
it  seemed  to  her  that  everyone  must  understand.  Maurice  did 
understand.  It  made  his  heart  bleed;  he  gave  a  great  sob. 

"My  poor  darling!" 

When,  about  two  o'clock,  Henriette  recovered  conscious- 
ness, she  found  herself  at  Balan,  in  the  kitchen  of  some  people 
who  were  strangers  to  her,  her  head  resting  on  a  table, 
weeping.  Almost  immediately,  however,  she  dried  her  tears; 
already  the  heroic  element  was  reasserting  itself  in  that  silent 
woman,  so  frail,  so  gentle,  yet  of  a  spirit  so  indomitable  that 
she  could  suffer  martyrdom  for  the  faith,  or  the  love,  that  was 
in  her.  She  knew  not  fear;  her  quiet,  undemonstrative  courage 
was  lofty  and  invincible.  When  her  distress  was  deepest  she 
had  summoned  up  her  resolution,  devoting  her  reflections  to 
how  she  might  recover  her  husband's  body,  so  as  to  give  it 
decent  burial.  Her  first  project  was  neither  more  nor  less 
than  to  make  her  way  back  to  Bazeilles,  but  everyone  advised 
her  against  this  course,  assuring  her  that  it  would  be  absolutely 
impossible  to  get  through  the  German  lines.  She  therefore 
abandoned  the  idea,  and  tried  to  think  of  someone  among  her 
acquaintance  who  would  afford  her  the  protection  of  his  com- 
pany, or  at  least  assist  her  in  the  necessary  preliminaries. 
The  person  to  whom  she  determined  she  would  apply  was  a 
M.  Dubreuil,  a  cousin  of  hers,  who  had  been  assistant  super- 
intendent of  the  refinery  at  Chene  at  the  time  her  husband  was 
employed  there;  Weiss  had  been  a  favorite  of  his  ;  he  would 
not  refuse  her  his  assistance.  Since  the  time,  now  two  years 
ago,  when  his  wife  had  inherited  a  handsome  fortune,  he  had 
been  occupying  a  pretty  villa,  called  the  Hermitage,  the  ter- 
races of  which  could  be  seen  skirting  the  hillside  of  a  suburb 
of  Sedan,  on  the  further  side  of  the  Fond  de  Givonne.  And 
thus  it  was  toward  the  Hermitage  that  she  was  now  bending 
her  steps,  compelled  at  every  moment  to  pause  before  some 
fresh  obstacle,  continually  menaced  with  being  knocked  down 
and  trampled  to  death. 

Maurice,  to  whom  she  briefly  explained  her  project,  gave  it 
his  approval. 

"Cousin  Dubreuil  has  always  been  a  good  friend  to  us.  He 
will  be  of  service  to  you." 

Then  an  idea  of  another  nature  occurred  to  him.  Lieuten- 
ant Rochas  was  greatly  embarrassed  as  to  what  disposition  he 
should  make  of  the  flag.  They  all  were  firmly  resolved  to  save 
it — to  do  anything  rather  than  allow  it  to  fall  into  the  hands  of 


THE  DOWNFALL 

the  Prussians.  It  had  been  suggested  to  cut  it  into  pieces,  of 
which  each  should  carry  one  off  under  his  shirt,  or  else  to  bury 
it  at  the  foot  of  a  tree,  so  noting  the  locality  in  memory  that  they 
might  be  able  to  come  and  disinter  it  at  some  future  day;  but 
the  idea  of  mutilating  the  flag,  or  burying  it  like  a  corpse, 
affected  them  too  painfully,  and  they  were*  considering  if  they 
might  not  preserve  it  in  some  other  manner.  When  Maurice, 
therefore,  proposed  to  entrust  the  standard  to  a  reliable  person 
who  would  conceal  it  and,  in  case  of  necessity,  defend  it,  until 
such  day  as  he  should  restore  it  to  them  intact,  they  all  gave 
their  assent. 

"Come,"  said  the  young  man,  addressing  his  sister,  "we 
will  go  with  you  to  the  Hermitage  and  see  if  Dubreuil  is  there. 
Besides,  I  do  not  wish  to  leave  you  without  protection." 

It  was  no  easy  matter  to  extricate  themselves  from  the  press, 
but  they  succeeded  finally  and  entered  a  path  that  led  upward 
on  their  left.  They  soon  found  themselves  in  a  region  inter- 
sected by  a  perfect  labyrinth  of  lanes  and  narrow  passages, 
a  district  where  truck  farms  and  gardens  predominated,  inter- 
spersed with  an  occasional  villa  and  small  holdings  of 
extremely  irregular  outline,  and  these  lanes  and  passages 
wound  circuitously  between  blank  walls,  turning  sharp  corners 
at  every  few  steps  and  bringing  up  abruptly  in  the  cul-de-sac  of 
some  courtyard,  affording  admirable  facilities  for  carrying  on 
a  guerilla  warfare;  there  were  spots  where  ten  men  might 
defend  themselves  for  hours  against  a  regiment.  Desultory 
firing  was  already  beginning  to  be  heard,  for  the  suburb  com- 
manded Balan,  and  the  Bavarians  were  already  coming  up  on 
the  other  side  of  the  valley. 

When  Maurice  and  Henriette,  who  were  in  the  rear  of  the 
others,  had  turned  once  to  the  left,  then  to  the  right  and  then 
to  the  left  again,  following  the  course  of  two  interminable  walls, 
they  suddenly  came  out  before  the  Hermitage,  the  door  of 
which  stood  wide  open.  The  grounds,  at  the  top  of  which 
was  a  small  park,  were  terraced  off  in  three  broad  terraces,  on 
one  of  which  stood  the  residence,  a  roomy,  rectangular  struc- 
ture, approached  by  an  avenue  of  venerable  elms.  Facing  it, 
and  separated  from  it  by  the  deep,  narrow  valley,  with  its 
steeply  sloping  banks,  were  other  similar  country  seats,  backed 
by  a  wood. 

Henriette's  anxiety  was  aroused  at  sight  of  the  open  door 
"They  are  not  at  home,"   she   said;  "they  must   have  gone 
away. ' ' 


THE  DOWNFALL 

The  truth  was  that  Dubreuil  had  decided  the  day  before  to 
take  his  wife  and  children  to  Bouillon,  where  they  would  be  in 
safety  from  the  disaster  he  felt  was  impending.  And  yet  the 
house  was  not  unoccupied;  even  at  a  distance  and  through 
the  intervening  trees  the  approaching  party  were  conscious  of 
movements  going  on  within  its  walls.  As  the  young  woman 
advanced  into  the  avenue  she  recoiled  before  the  dead  body  of 
a  Prussian  soldier. 

"The  devil!"  exclaimed  Rochas;  "so  they  have  already 
been  exchanging  civilities  in  this  quarter!" 

Then  all  hands,  desiring  to  ascertain  what  was  going  on, 
hurried  forward  to  the  house,  and  there  their  curiosity  was 
quickly  gratified;  the  doors  and  windows  of  the  rez-de-chauss£e 
had  been  smashed  in  with  musket-butts  and  the  yawning 
apertures  disclosed  the  destruction  that  the  marauders  had 
wrought  in  the  rooms  within,  while  on  the  graveled  terrace  lay 
various  articles  of  furniture  that  had  been  hurled  from  the 
stoop.  Particularly  noticeable  was  a  drawing-room  suite  in 
sky-blue  satin,  its  sofa  and  twelve  fauteuils  piled  in  dire  con- 
fusion, helter-skelter,  on  and  around  a  great  center  table,  the 
marble  top  of  which  was  broken  in  twain.  And  there  were 
zouaves,  chasseurs,  liners,  and  men  of  the  infanterie  de  marine 
running  to  and  fro  excitedly  behind  the  buildings  and  in  the 
alleys,  discharging  their  pieces  into  the  little  wood  that  faced 
them  across  the  valley. 

"Lieutenant,"  a  zouave  said  to  Rochas,  by  way  of  explana- 
tion, "we  found  a  pack  of  those  dirty  Prussian  hounds  here, 
smashing  things  and  raising  Cain  generally.  We  settled  their 
hash  for  them,  as  you  can  see  for  yourself;  only  they  will  be 
coming  back  here  presently,  ten  to  our  one,  and  that  won't  be 
so  pleasant." 

Three  other  corpses  of  Prussian  soldiers  were  stretched  upon 
the  terrace.  As  Henrietta  was  looking  at  them  absently,  her 
thoughts  doubtless  far  away  with  her  husband,  who,  amid  the 
blood  and  ashes  of  Bazeilles,  was  also  sleeping  his  last  sleep,  a 
bullet  whistled  close  to  her  head  and  struck  a  tree  that  stood 
behind  her.  Jean  sprang  forward. 

"Madame,  don't  stay  there.  Go  inside  the  house,  quick, 
quick!" 

His  heart  overflowed  with  pity  as  he  beheld  the  change  her 
terrible  affliction  had  wrought  in  her,  and  he  recalled  her  image 
as  she  had  appeared  to  him  only  the  day  before,  her  face  bright 
with  the  kindly  smile  of  the  happy,  loving  wife.  At  first  he 


THE  DOWNFALL  329 

had  found  no  word  to  say  to  her,  hardly  knowing  even  if  she 
would  recognize  him.  He  felt  that  he  could  gladly  give  his 
life,  if  that  would  serve  to  restore  her  peace  of  mind. 

"Go  inside,  and  don't  come  out.  At  the  first  sign  of  danger 
we  will  come  for  you,  and  we  will  all  escape  together  by  way  of 
the  wood  up  yonder." 

But  she  apathetically  replied: 

"Ah,  M.  Jean,  what  is  the  use?" 

Her  brother,  however,  was  also  urging  her,  and  finally  she 
ascended  the  stoop  and  took  her  position  within  the  vestibule, 
whence  her  vision  commanded  a  view  of  the  avenue  in  its 
entire  length.  She  was  a  spectator  of  the  ensuing  combat. 

Maurice  and  Jean  had  posted  themselves  behind  one  of  the 
elms  near  the  house.  The  gigantic  trunks  of  the  centenarian 
monarchs  were  amply  sufficient  to  afford  shelter  to  two  men. 
A  little  way  from  them  Gaude,  the  bugler,  had  joined  forces 
with  Lieutenant  Rochas,  who,  unwilling  to  confide  the  flag  to 
other  hands,  had  rested  it  against  the  tree  at  his  side  while  he 
handled  his  musket.  And  every  trunk  had  its  defenders; 
from  end  to  end  the  avenue  was  lined  with  men  covered, 
Indian  fashion,  by  the  trees,  who  only  exposed  their  head 
when  ready  to  fire. 

In  the  wood  across  the  valley  the  Prussians  appeared  to  be 
receiving  re-enforcements,  for  their  fire  gradually  grew  warmer. 
There  was  no  one  to  be  seen ;  at  most,  the  swiftly  vanishing 
form  now  and  then  of  a  man  changing  his  position.  A  villa, 
with  green  shutters,  was  occupied  by  their  sharpshooters,  who 
fired  from  the  half-open  windows  of  the  rez-de-chausste.  It 
was  about  four  o'clock,  and  the  noise  of  the  cannonade  in  the 
distance  was  diminishing,  the  guns  were  being  silenced  one  by 
one;  and  there  they  were,  French  and  Prussians,  in  that  out- 
of-the-way  corner  whence  they  could  not  see  the  white  flag 
floating  over  the  citadel,  still  engaged  in  the  work  of  mutual 
slaughter,  as  if  their  quarrel  had  been  a  personal  one.  Not- 
withstanding the  armistice  there  were  many  such  points  where 
the  battle  continued  to  rage  until  it  was  too  dark  to  see;  the 
rattle  of  musketry  was  heard  in  the  faubourg  of  the  Fond  de 
Givonne  and  in  the  gardens  of  Petit-Pont  long  after  it  had 
ceased  elsewhere. 

For  a  quarter  of  an  hour  the  bullets  flew  thick  and  fast  from 
one  side  of  the  valley  to  the  other.  Now  and  again  someone 
who  was  so  incautious  as  to  expose  himself  went  down  with  a 
ball  in  his  head  or  chest.  There  were  three  men  lying  dead  in 


33°  THE  DOWNFALL 

the  avenue.  The  rattling  in  the  throat  of  another  man  who 
had  fallen  prone  upon  his  face  was  something  horrible  to  listen 
to,  and  no  one  thought  to  go  and  turn  him  on  his  back  to  ease 
his  dying  agony.  Jean,  who  happened  to  look  around  just  at 
that  moment,  beheld  Henriette  glide  tranquilly  down  the  steps, 
approach  the  wounded  man  and  turn  him  over,  then  slip  a 
knapsack  beneath  his  head  by  way  of  pillow.  He  ran  and 
seized  her  and  forcibly  brought  her  back  behind  the  tree 
where  he  and  Maurice  were  posted. 

"Do  you  wish  to  be  killed?" 

She  appeared  to  be  entirely  unconscious  of  the  danger  to 
which  she  had  exposed  herself. 

"Why,  no — but  I  am  afraid  to  remain  in  that  house,  all 
alone.  I  would  rather  be  outside." 

And  so  she  stayed  with  them.  They  seated  her  on  the 
ground  at  their  feet,  against  the  trunk  of  the  tree,  and  went  on 
expending  the  few  cartridges  that  were  left  them,  blazing  away 
to  right  and  left,  with  such  fury  that  they  quite  forgot  their 
sensations  of  fear  and  fatigue.  They  were  utterly  unconscious 
of  what  was  going  on  around  them,  acting  mechanically,  with 
but  one  end  in  view;  even  the  instinct  of  self-preservation  had 
deserted  them. 

"Look,  Maurice,"  suddenly  said  Henriette;  "that  dead 
soldier  there  before  us,  does  he  not  belong  to  the  Prussian 
Guard?" 

She  had  been  eying  attentively  for  the  past  minute  or  two 
one  of  the  dead  bodies  that  the  enemy  had  left  behind  them 
when  they  retreated,  a  short,  thick-set  young  man,  with  big 
mustaches,  lying  upon  his  side  on  the  gravel  of  the  terrace. 

The  chin-strap  had  broken,  releasing  the  spiked  helmet, 
which  had  rolled  away  a  few  steps.  And  it  was  indisputable 
that  the  body  was  attired  in  the  uniform  of  the  Guard;  the 
dark  gray  trousers,  the  blue  tunic  with  white  facings,  the  great- 
coat rolled  and  worn,  belt-wise,  across  the  shoulder. 

"It  is  the  Guard  uniform,"  she  said;  "I  am  quite  certain  of 
it.  It  is  exactly  like  the  colored  plate  I  have  at  home,  and 

then  the  photograph  that  Cousin  Gunther  sent  us "  She 

stopped  suddenly,  and  with  her  unconcerned,  fearless  air, 
before  anyone  could  make  a  motion  to  detain  her,  walked  up 
to  the  corpse,  bent  down  and  read  the  number  of  the  regiment. 
"Ah,  the  Forty-third!"  she  exclaimed.  "I  knew  it." 

And  she  returned  to  her  position,  while  a  storm  of  bullets 
whistled  around  her  ears.  "Yes,  the  Forty-third;  Cousin 


THE  DOWNFALL  331 

Gunther's  regiment — something  told  me  it  must  be  so.  Ah! 
if  my  poor  husband  were  only  here!" 

After  that  all  Jean's  and  Maurice's  entreaties  were  ineffectual 
to  make  her  keep  quiet.  She  was  feverishly  restless,  con- 
stantly protruding  her  head  to  peer  into  the  opposite  wood, 
evidently  harassed  by  some  anxiety  that  preyed  upon  her 
mind.  Her  companions  continued  to  load  and  fire  with  the 
same  blind  fury,  pushing  her  back  with  their  knee  whenever 
she  exposed  herself  too  rashly.  It  looked  as  if  the  Prussians 
were  beginning  to  consider  that  their  numbers  would  warrant 
them  in  attacking,  for  they  showed  themselves  more  frequently 
and  there  were  evidences  of  preparations  going  on  behind  the 
trees.  They  were  suffering  severely,  however,  from  the  fire  of 
the  French,  whose  bullets  at  that  short  range  rarely  failed  to 
bring  down  their  man. 

"That  may  be  your  cousin,"  said  Jean.  "Look,  that  officer 
over  there,  who  has  just  come  out  of  the  house  with  the  green 
shutters." 

He  was  a  captain,  as  could  be  seen  by  the  gold  braid  on  the 
collar  of  his  tunic  and  the  golden  eagle  on  his  helmet  that 
flashed  back  the  level  ray  of  the  setting  sun.  He  had  dis- 
carded his  epaulettes,  and  carrying  his  saber  in  his  right  hand, 
was  shouting  an  order  in  a  sharp,  imperative  voice;  and  the 
distance  between  them  was  so  small,  a  scant  two  hundred 
yards,  that  every  detail  of  his  trim,  slender  figure  was  plainly 
discernible,  as  well  as  the  pinkish,  stern  face  and  slight  blond 
mustache. 

Henriette  scrutinized  him  with  attentive  eyes.  "It  is  he," 
she  replied,  apparently  unsurprised.  "I  recognize  him  per- 
fectly." 

With  a  look  of  concentrated  rage  Maurice  drew  his  piece  to 

his  shoulder  and  covered  him.  "The  cousin Ah!  sure 

as  there  is  a  God  in  heaven  he  shall  pay  for  Weiss." 

But,  quivering  with  excitement,  she  jumped  to  her  feet  and 
knocked  up  the  weapon,  whose  charge  was  wasted  on  the  air. 

"Stop,  stop!  we  must  not  kill  acquaintances,  relatives!  .It 
is  too  barbarous." 

And,  all  her  womanly  instincts  coming  back  to  her,  she  sank 
down  behind  the  tree  and  gave  way  to  a  fit  of  violent  weep- 
ing. The  horror  of  it  all  was  too  much  for  her;  in  her  great 
dread  and  sorrow  she  was  forgetful  of  all  beside. 

Rochas,  meantime,  was  in  his  element.  He  had  excited 
the  few  zouaves  and  other  troops  around  him  to  such  a  pitch 


33*  THE  DOWNFALL 

of  frenzy,  their  fire  had  become  so  murderously  effective  at 
sight  of  the  Prussians,  that  the  latter  first  wavered  and  then 
retreated  to  the  shelter  of  their  wood. 

"Stand  your  ground,  my  boys!  don't  give  way  an  inch! 
Aha,  see  'em  run,  the  cowards!  we'll  fix  their  flint  for  'em!" 

He  was  in  high  spirits  and  seemed  to  have  recovered  all  his 
unbounded  confidence,  certain  that  victory  was  yet  to  crown 
their  efforts.  There  had  been  no  defeat.  The  handful  of 
men  before  him  stood  in  his  eyes  for  the  united  armies  of  Ger- 
many, and  he  was  going  to  destroy  them  at  his  leisure.  All  his 
long,  lean  form,  all  his  thin,  bony  face,  where  the  huge  nose 
curved  down  upon  the  self-willed,  sensual  mouth,  exhaled  a 
laughing,  vain-glorious  satisfaction,  the  joy  of  the  conquering 
trooper  who  goes  through  the  world  with  his  sweetheart  on  his 
arm  and  a  bottle  of  good  wine  in  his  hand. 

"Parbleu,  my  children,  what  are  we  here  for,  I'd  like  to 
know,  if  not  to  lick  'em  out  of  their  boots?  and  that's  the  way 
this  affair  is  going  to  end,  just  mark  my  words.  We  shouldn't 
know  ourselves  any  longer  if  we  should  let  ourselves  be  beaten. 
Beaten!  come,  come,  that  is  too  good!  When  the  neighbors 
tread  on  our  toes,  or  when  we  feel  we  are  beginning  to  grow 
rusty  for  want  of  something  to  do,  we  just  turn  to  and  give  'em 
a  thrashing;  that's  all  there  is  to  it.  Come,  boys,  let  'em  have 
it  once  more,  and  you'll  see  'em  run  like  so  many  jack- 
rabbits!" 

He  bellowed  and  gesticulated  like  a  lunatic,  and  was  such  a 
good  fellow  withal  in  the  comforting  illusion  of  his  ignorance 
that  the  men  were  inoculated  with  his  confidence.  He  sud- 
denly broke  out  again : 

"And  we'll  kick  'em,  we'll  kick  'em,  we'll  kick  'em  to  the 
frontier!  Victory,  victory!" 

But  at  that  juncture,  just  as  the  enemy  across  the  valley 
seemed  really  to  be  falling  back,  a  hot  fire  of  musketry 
came  pouring  in  on  them  from  the  left.  It  was  a  repetition  of 
the  everlasting  flanking  movement  that  had  done  the  Prussians 
such  good  service;  a  strong  detachment  of  the  Guards  had 
crept  around  toward  the  French  rear  through  the  Fond  de 
Givonne.  It  was  useless  to  think  of  holding  the  position 
longer;  the  little  band  of  men  who  were  defending  the  terraces 
were  caught  between  two  fires  and  menaced  with  being  cut  off 
from  Sedan.  Men  fell  on  every  side,  and  for  a  moment  the 
confusion  was  extreme;  the  Prussians  were  already  scaling  the 
wall  of  the  park,  and  advancing  along  the  pathways.  Some 


THE  DOWNFALL  333 

zouaves  rushed  forward  to  repel  them^and  there  was  a  fierce 
hand-to-hand  struggle  with  the  bayonet.  There  was  one 
zouave,  a  big,  handsome,  brown-bearded  man,  bare-headed 
and  with  his  jacket  hanging  in  tatters  from  his  shoulders,  who 
did  his  work  with  appalling  thoroughness,  driving  his  reeking 
bayonet  home  throu^  splintering  bones  and  yielding  tissues, 
cleansing  it  of  the  gore  that  it  had  contracted  from  one  man  by 
plunging  it  into  the  flesh  of  another;  and  when  it  broke  he 
laid  about  him,  smashing  many  a  skull,  with  the  butt  of  his 
musket;  and  when  finally  he  made  a  misstep  and  lost  his 
weapon  he  sprung,  bare-handed,  for  the  throat  of  a  burly 
Prussian,  with  such  tigerish  fierceness  that  both  men  rolled 
over  and  over  on  the  gravel  to  the  shattered  kitchen  door, 
clasped  in  a  mortal  embrace.  The  trees  of  the  park  looked 
down  on  many  such  scenes  of  slaughter,  and  the  green  lawn 
was  piled  with  corpses.  But  it  was  before  the  stoop,  around 
the  sky-blue  sofa  and  fauteuils,  that  the  conflict  raged  with 
greatest  fury;  a  maddened  mob  of  savages,  firing  at  one 
another  at  point-blank  range,  so  that  hair  and  beards  were  set 
on  fire,  tearing  one  another  with  teeth  and  nails  when  a  knife 
was  wanting  to  slash  the  adversary's  throat. 

Then  Gaude,  with  his  sorrowful  face,  the  face  of  a  man  who 
has  had  his  troubles  of  which  he  does  not  care  to  speak,  was 
seized  with  a  sort  of  sudden  heroic  madness.  At  that  moment 
of  irretrievable  defeat,  when  he  must  have  known  that  the  com- 
pany was  annihilated  and  that  there  was  not  a  man  left  to 
answer  his  summons,  he  grasped  his  bugle,  carried  it  to  his 
lips  and  sounded  the  general,  in  so  tempestuous,  ear-splitting 
strains  that  one  would  have  said  he  wished  to  wake  the  dead. 
Nearer  and  nearer  came  the  Prussians,  but  he  never  stirred, 
only  sounding  the  call  the  louder,  with  all  the  strength  of  his 
lungs.  He  fell,  pierced  with  many  bullets,  and  his  spirit 
passed  in  one  long-dawn,  parting  wail  that  died  away  and  was 
lost  upon  the  shuddering  air. 

Rochas  made  no  attempt  to  fly;  he  seemed  unable  to  com- 
prehend. Even  more  erect  than  usual,  he  waited  the  end, 
stammering: 

"Well,  what's  the  matter?  what's  the  matter?" 

Such  a  possibility  had  never  entered  his  head  as  that  they 
could  be  defeated.  They  were  changing  everything  in  these 
degenerate  days,  even  to  the  manner  of  fighting;  had  not  those 
fellows  a  right  to  remain  on  their  own  side  of  the  valley  and 
wait  for  the  French  to  go  and  attack  them?  There  was  no  use 


334  THE  DOWNFALL 

killing  them;  as  fast  aa^they  were  killed  more  kept  popping  up. 
What  kind  of  a  d— -a*  war  was  it,  anyway,  jfhere  they  were 
able  to  collect  ten  men  against  their  fc'ppohent's  one,  where 
they  never  showed  their  face  until  evening,  after  blazing  away 
at  you  all  day  with  their  artillery  until  you  didn't  know  on 
which  end  you  were  standing?  Agh*!st  and  confounded, 
having  failed  so  far  to  acquire  the  first  idea  of  the  rationale  of 
the  campaign,  he  was  dimly  conscious  of  the  existence  of 
some  mysterious,  superior  method  which  he  could  not  com- 
prehend, against  which  he  ceased  to  struggle,  although  in  his 
dogged  stubbornness  he  kept  repeating  mechanically: 
"Courage,  my  children!  victory  is  before  us!" 
Meanwhile  b'e  had  stooped  and  clutched  the  flag.  That  was 
his  last,  his  ditty  thought,  to  save  the  flag,  retreating  again,  if 
necessary,  so  that  it  might  not  be  defiled  by  contact  with 
Prussian  hands.  But  the  staff,  although  it  was  broken,  became 
entangled  in  his  legs;  he  narrowly  escaped  falling.  The 
bullets  whistled  past  him,  he  felt  that  death  was  near;  he 
stripped  the  silk  from  the  staff  and  tore  it  into  shreds,  striving 
to  destroy  it  utterly.  And  then  it  was  that,  stricken  at  once 
in  the  neck,  chest,  and  legs,  he  sank  to  earth  amid  the,  bright 
tri-colored  rags,  as  if  they  had  been  his  pall.  He  survived  a 
moment  yet,  gazing  before  him  with  fixed,  dilated  eyes,  read- 
ing, perhaps,  in  the  vision  he  beheld  on  the  horizon  the  stern 
lesson  that  War  conveys,  the  cruel,  vital  struggle  that  is  to  be 
accepted  not  otherwise  than  gravely,  reverently,  as  immutable 
law.  Then  a  slight  tremor  ran  through  his  frame,  and  dark- 
ness succeeded  to  his  infantine  bewilderment;  he  passed  away, 
like  some  poor  dumb,  lowly  creature  of  a  day,  a  joyous  insect 
that  mighty,  impassive  Nature,  in  her  relentless  fatality,  has 
caught  and  crushed.  In  him  died  all  a  legend. 

When  the  Prussians  began  to  <iraw  near  Jean  and  Maurice 
had  retreated,  retiring  from  tree  to  tree,  face  to  the  enemy, 
and  always,  as  far  as  possible,  keeping  Henriette  behind  them. 
They  did  not  give  over  firing,  discharging  their  pieces  and 
then  falling  back  to  seek  a  fresh  cover.  Maurice  knew  where 
there  was  a  little  wicket  in  the  wall  at  the  upper  part  of  the 
park,  and  they  were  so  fortunate  as  to  find  it  unfastened. 
With  lighter  hearts  when  they  had  left  it  behind  them,  they 
found  themselves  in  a  narrow  by-road  that  wound  between  two 
high  walls,  but  after  following  it  for  some  distance  the  sound 
of  firing  in  front  caused  them  to  turn  into  a  path  on  their  left. 
As  luck  would  have  it,  it  ended  in  an  impasse ;  they  had  to 


THE  DOWNFALL  335 

retrace  their  steps,  running  the  gauntlet  of  the  bullets,  and 
take  the  turning  to  the  right.  When  they  came  to  exchange 
reminiscences  in  later  days  they  could  never  agree  on  which 
road  they  had  taken.  In  that  tangled  network  of  suburban 
lanes  and  passages  there  was  firing  still  going  on  from  every 
corner  that  afforded  a  shelter,  protracted  battles  raged  at  the 
gates  of  farmyards,  everything  that  could  be  converted  into  a 
barricade  had  its  defenders,  from  whom  the  assailants  tried  to 
wrest  it;  all  with  the  utmost  fury  and  vindictiveness.  And  all 
at  once  they  came  out  upon  the  Fond  de  Givonne  road,  not  far 
from  Sedan. 

For  the  third  time  Jean  raised  his  eyes  toward  the  western 
sky,  that  was  all  aflame  with  a  bright,  rosy  light;  and  he  heaved 
a  sigh  of  unspeakable  relief. 

"Ah,  that  pig  of  a  sun!  at  last  he  is  going  to  bed!" 

And  they  ran  with  might  and  main,  all  three  of  them,  never 
once  stopping  to  draw  breath.  About  them,  filling  the  road 
in  all  its  breadth,  was  the  rear  guard  of  fugitives  from  the 
battlefield,  still  flowing  onward  with  the  irresistible  momentum 
of  an  unchained  mountain  torrent.  When  they  came  to  the 
Balan  gate  they  had  a  long  period  of  waiting  in  the  midst  of 
the  impatient,  ungovernable  throng.  The  chains  of  the  draw- 
bridge had  given  way,  and  the  only  path  across  the  fosse  was 
by  the.  foot-bridge,  so  that  the  guns  and  horses  had  to  turn 
back  and  seek  admission  by  the  bridge  of  the  chateau,  where 
the  jam  was  said  to  be  even  still  more  fearful.  At  the  gate  of 
la  Cassine,  too,  people  were  trampled  to  death  in  their  eager- 
ness to  gain  admittance.  From  all  the  adjacent  heights  the 
terror-stricken  fragments  of  the  army  came  tumbling  into  the 
city,  as  into  a  cesspool,  with  the  hollow  roar  of  pent-up  water 
that  has  burst  its  dam.  The  fatal  attraction  of  those  walls 
had  ended  by  making  cowards  of  the  bravest;  men  trod  one 
another  down  in  their  blind  haste  to  be  under  cover. 

Maurice  had  caught  Henriette  in  his  arms,  and  in  a  voice 
that  trembled  with  suspense: 

"It  cannot  be,"  he  said,  "that  they  will  have  the  cruelty  to 
close  the  gate  and  shut  us  out." 

That  was  what  the  crowd  feared  would  be  done.  To  right 
and  left,  however,  upon  the  glacis  soldiers  were  already  arrang- 
ing their  bivouacs,  while  entire  batteries,  guns,  caissons,  and 
horses,  in  confusion  worse  confounded,  had  thrown  themselves 
pell-mell  into  the  fosse  for  safety. 

But  now  shrill,  impatient  bugle  calls  rose  on  the  evening  air, 


336  THE  DOWNFALL. 

followed  soon  by  the  long-drawn  strains  of  retreat.  They 
were  summoning  the  belated  soldiers  back  to  their  comrades, 
who  came  running  in,  singly  and  in  groups.  A  dropping  fire 
of  musketry  still  continued  in  the  faubourgs,  but  it  was  gradu- 
ally dying  out.  Heavy  guards  were  stationed  on  the  banquette 
behind  the  parapet  to  protect  the  approaches,  and  at  last  the 
gate  was  closed.  The  Prussians  were  within  a  hundred  yards 
of  the  sally-port;  they  could  be  seen  moving  on  the  Balan  road, 
tranquilly  establishing  themselves  in  the  houses  and  gardens. 

Maurice  and  Jean,  pushing  Henriette  before  them  to  protect 
her  from  the  jostling  of  the  throng,  were  among  the  last  to 
enter  Sedan.  Six  o'clock  was  striking.  The  artillery  fire  had 
ceased  nearly  an  hour  ago.  Soon  the  distant  musketry  fire, 
too,  was  silenced.  Then,  to  the  deafening  uproar,  to  the 
vengeful  thunder  that  had  been  roaring  since  morning,  there 
succeeded  a  stillness  as  of  "death.  Night  came,  and  with  it 
came  a  boding  silence,  fraught  with  terror. 


VIII. 

AT  half-past  five  o'clock,  after  the  closing  of  the  gates, 
Delaherche,  in  his  eager  thirst  for  news,  now  that  he  knew 
the  battle  lost,  had  again  returned  to  the  Sous-Prefecture. 
He  hung  persistently  about  the  approaches  of  the  janitor's 
lodge,  tramping  up  and  down  the  paved  courtyard  with  fever- 
ish impatience,  for  more  than  three  hours,  watching  for  every 
officer  who  came  up  and  interviewing  him,  and  thus  it  was 
that  he  had  become  acquainted,  piecemeal,  with  the  rapid 
-cries  of  events;  how  General  de  Wimpffen  had  tendered  his 
resignation  and  then  withdrawn  it  upon  the  peremptory  refusal 
of  Generals  Ducrot  and  Douay  to  append  their  names  to  the 
articles  of  capitulation,  how  the  Emperor  had  thereupon 
invested  the  General  with  full  authority  to  proceed  to  the 
Prussian  headquarters  and  treat  for  the  surrender  of  -the 
vanquished  army  on  the  most  advantageous  terms  obtainable ; 
how,  finally,  a  council  of  war  had  been  convened  with  the 
object  of  deciding  what  possibilities  there  were  of  further  pro- 
tracting the  struggle  successfully  by  the  defense  of  the  fort- 
ress. During  the  deliberations  of  this  council,  which  con- 
sisted of  some  twenty  officers  of  the  highest  rank  and  seemed 
to  him  as  if  it  would  never  end,  the  cloth  manufacturer 
climbed  the  steps  of  the  huge  public  building  at  least  twenty 


THE  DOWNFALL.  337 

times,  and  at  last  his  curiosity  was  gratified  by  beholding  Gen- 
eral de  Wimpffen  emerge,  very  red  in  the  face  and  his  eye- 
lids puffed  and  swollen  with  tears,  behind  whom  came  two 
other  generals  and  a  colonel.  They  leaped  into  the  saddle 
and  rode  away  over  the  Pont  de  Meuse.  The  bells  had  struck 
eight  some  time  before ;  the  inevitable  capitulation  was  now  to 
be  accomplished,  from  which  there  was  no  escape. 

Delaherche,  somewhat  relieved  in  mind  by  what  he  had 
heard  and  seen,  remembered  that  it  was  a  long  time  since  he 
had  tasted  food  and  resolved  to  turn  his  steps  homeward,  but 
the  terrific  crowd  that  had  collected  since  he  first  came  made 
him  pause  in  dismay.  It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  the 
streets  and  squares  were  so  congested,  so  thronged,  so  densely 
packed  with  horses,  men,  and  guns,  that  one  would  have 
declared  the  closely  compacted  mass  could  only-  have  been 
squeezed  and  wedged  in  there  -thus  by  the  effort  of  some 
gigantic  mechanism.  While  the  ramparts  were  occupied  by 
the  bivouacs  of  such  regiments  as  had  fallen  back  in  good 
order,  the  city  had  been  invaded  and  submerged  by  an  angry, 
surging,  desperate  flood,  the  broken  remnants  of  the  various 
corps,  stragglers  and  fugitives  from  all  arms  of  the  service,  and 
the  dammed-up  tide  made  it  impossible  for  one  to  stir  foot  or 
hand.  The  wheels  of  the  guns,  of  the  caissons,  and  the  in- 
numerable vehicles  of  every  description,  had  interlocked  and 
were  tangled  in  confusion  worse  confounded,  while  the  poor 
horses,  flogged  unmercifully  by  their  drivers  and  pulled,  now 
in  this  direction,  now  in  that,  could  only  dance  in  their  be- 
wilderment, unable  to  move  a  step  either  forward  or  back. 
And  the  men,  deaf  to  reproaches  and  threats  alike,  forced 
their  way  into  the  houses,  devoured  whatever  they  could  lay 
hands  on,  flung  themselves  down  to  sleep  wherever  they 
could  find  a  vacant  space,  it  might  be  in  the  best  bedroom 
or  in  the  cellar.  Many  of  them  had  fallen  in  doorways, 
where  they  blocked  the  vestibule;  others,  without  strength 
to  go  farther,  lay  extended  on  the  sidewalks  and  slept  the 
sleep  of  death,  not  even  rising  when  some  by-passer  trod  on 
them  and  bruised  an  arm  or  leg,  preferring  the  risk  of  death 
to  the  fatigue  of  changing  their  location. 

These  things  all  helped  to  make  Delaherche  still  more  keenly 
conscious  of  the  necessity  of  immediate  capitulation.  There 
were  some  quarters  in  which  numerous  caissons  were  packed 
so  close  together  that  they  were  in  contact,  and  a  single  Prus- 
sian shell  alighting  on  one  of  them  must  inevitably  have 


338  THE  DOWNFALL. 

exploded  them  all,  entailing  the  immediate  destruction  of  the 
city  by  conflagration.  Then,  too,  what  could  be  accom- 
plished with  such  an  assemblage  of  miserable  wretches, 
deprived  of  all  their  powers,  mental  and  physical,  by  reason  of 
their  long-endured  privations,  and  destitute  of  either  ammuni- 
tion or  subsistence?  Merely  to  clear  the  streets  and  reduce 
them  to  a  condition  of  something  like  order  would  require  a 
whole  day.  The  place  was  entirely  incapable  of  defense, 
having  neither  guns  nor  provisions. 

These  were  the  considerations  that  had  prevailed  at  the 
council  among  those  more  reasonable  officers  who,  in  the  midst 
of  their  grief  and  sorrow  for  their  country  and  the  army,  had 
retained  a  clear  and  undistorted  view  of  the  situation  as  it 
was;  and  the  more  hot-headed  among  them,  those  who  cried 
with  emotion  that  it  was  impossible  for  an  army  to  surrender 
thus,  had  been  compelled  to  bow  their  head  upon  their  breast 
in  silence  and  admit  that  they  had  no  practicable  scheme  to 
offer  whereby  the  conflict  might  be  recommenced  on  the 
morrow. 

In  the  Place  Turenne  and  Place  du  Rivage,  Delaherche 
succeeded  with  the  greatest  difficulty  in  working  his  way 
through  the  press.  As  he  passed  the  Hotel  of  the  Golden 
Cross  a  sorrowful  vision  greeted  his  eyes,  that  of  the  generals 
seated  in  the  dining  room,  gloomily  silent,  around  the  empty 
board;  there  was  nothing  left  to  eat  in  the  house,  not  even 
bread.  General  Bourgain-Desfeuilles,  however,  who  had  been 
storming  and  vociferating  in  the  kitchen,  appeared  to  have 
found  something,  for  he  suddenly  held  his  peace  and  ran  away 
swiftly  up  the  stairs,  holding  in  his  hands  a  large  paper  parcel 
of  a  greasy  aspect.  Such  was  the  crowd  assembled  there,  to 
stare  through  the  lighted  windows  upon  the  guests  assembled 
around  that  famine-stricken  table  cT  hdte,  that  the  manufacturer 
was  obliged  to  make  vigorous  play  with  his  elbows,  and  was 
frequently  driven  back  by  some  wild  rush  of  the  mob  and  lost 
all  the  distance,  and  more,  that  he  had  just  gained.  In  the 
Grande  Rue,  however,  the  obstacles  became  actually  impass- 
able, and  there  was  a  moment  when  he  was  inclined  to  give 
up  in  despair ;  a  complete  battery  seemed  to  have  been  driven 
in  there  and  the  guns  and  materiel  piled,  pell-mell,  on  top  of 
one  another.  Deciding  finally  to  take  the  bull  by  the  horns, 
he  leaped  to  the  axle  of  a  piece  and  so  pursued  his  way,  jump- 
ing from  wheel  to  wheel,  straddling  the  guns,  at  the  imminent 
risk  of  breaking  his  legs,  if  not  his  neck.  Afterward  it  was 


THE  DOWNFALL.  339 

some  horses  that  blocked  his  way,  and  he  made  himself  lowly 
and  stooped,  creeping  among  the  feet  and  underneath  the 
bellies  of  the  sorry  jades,  who  were  ready  to  die  of  inanition, 
like  their  masters.  Then,  when  after  a  quarter  of  an  hour's 
laborious  effort  he  reached  the  junction  of  the  Rue  Saint- 
Michel,  he  was  terrified  at  the  prospect  of  the  dangers  and 
obstacles  that  he  had  still  to  face,  and  which,  instead  of  dimin- 
ishing, seemed  to  be  increasing,  and  made  up  his  mind  to  turn 
down  the  street  above  mentioned,  which  would  take  him  into 
the  Rue  des  Laboureurs;  he  hoped  that  by  taking  these 
usually  quiet  and  deserted  passages  he  should  escape  the 
crowd  and  reach  his  home  in  safety.  As  luck  would  have  it 
he  almost  directly  came  upon  a  house  of  ill-fame  to  which  a 
band  of  drunken  soldiers  were  in  process  of  laying  siege,  and 
considering  that  a  stray  shot,  should  one  reach  him  in  the 
fracas,  would  be  equally  as  unpleasant  as  one  intended  for 
him,  he  made  haste  to  retrace  his  steps.  Resolving  to  have 
done  with  it  he  pushed  on  to  the  end  of  the  Grande  Rue, 
now  gaining  a  few  feet  by  balancing  himself,  rope-walker  fash- 
ion, along  the  pole  of  some  vehicle,  now  climbing  over  an 
army  wagon  that  barred  his  way.  At  the  Place  du  College  he 
was  carried  along  bodily  on  the  shoulders  of  the  throng  for  a 
space  of  thirty  paces;  he  fell  to  the  ground,  narrowly  escaped 
a  set  of  fractured  ribs,  and  saved  himself  only  by  the  proxim- 
ity of  a  friendly  iron  railing,  by  the  bars  of  which  he  pulled 
himself  to  his  feet.  And  when  at  last  he  reached  the  Rue 
Maqua,  inundated  with  perspiration,  his  clothing  almost  torn 
from  his  back,  he  found  that  he  had  been  more  than  an  hour  in 
coming  from  the  Sous-Prefecture,  a  distance  which  in  ordinary 
times  he  was  accustomed  to  accomplish  in  less  than  five 
minutes. 

Major  Bouroche,  with  the  intention  of  keeping  the  ambu- 
lance and  garden  from  being  overrun  with  intruders,  had 
caused  two  sentries  to  be  mounted  at  the  door.  This  measure 
was  a  source  of  great  comfort  to  Delaherche,  who  had  begun 
to  contemplate  the  possibilities  of  his  house  being  subjected  to 
pillage.  The  sight  of  the  ambulance  in  the  garden,  dimly 
lighted  by  a  few  candles  and  exhaling  its  fetid,  feverish  emana- 
tions, caused  him  a  fresh  constriction  of  the  heart;  then, 
stumbling  over  the  body  of  a  soldier  who  was  stretched  in 
slumber  on  the  stone  pavement  of  the  walk,  he  supposed  him 
to  be  one  of  the  fugitives  who  had  managed  to  find  his  way  in 
there  from  outside,  until,  calling  to  mind  the  yth  corps  treasure 


34°  THE  DOWNFALL. 

that  had  been  deposited  there  and  the  sentry  who  had  been  set 
over  it,  he  saw  how  matters  stood:  the  poor  fellow,  stationed 
there  since  early  morning,  had  been  overlooked  by  his  supe- 
riors and  had  succumbed  to  his  fatigue.  Besides,  the  house 
seemed  quite  deserted ;  the  ground  floor  was  black  as  Egypt, 
and  the  doors  stood  wide  open.  The  servants  were  doubtless 
all  at  the  ambulance,  for  there  was  no  one  in  the  kitchen, 
which  was  faintly  illuminated  by  the  light  of  a  wretched  little 
smoky  lamp.  He  lit  a  candle  and  ascended  the  main  staircase 
very  softly,  in  order  not  to  awaken  his  wife  and  mother,  whom 
he  had  begged  to  go  to  bed  early  after  a  day  where  the  stress, 
both  mental  and  physical,  had  been  so  intense. 

On  entering  his  study,  however,  he  beheld  a  sight  that 
caused  his  eyes  to  dilate  with  astonishment.  Upon  the  sofa 
on  which  Captain  Beaudoin  had  snatched  a  few  hours'  repose 
the  day  before  a  soldier  lay  outstretched ;  and  he  could  not 
understand  the  reason  of  it  until  he  had  looked  and  recog- 
nized young  Maurice  Levasseur,  Henriette's  brother.  He  was 
still  more  surprised  when,  on  turning  his  head,  he  perceived, 
stretched  on  the  floor  and  wrapped  in  a  bed  quilt,  another 
soldier,  that  Jean,  whom  he  had  seen  for  a  moment  just  before 
the  battle.  It  was  plain  that  the  poor  fellows,  in  their  distress 
and  fatigue  after  the  conflict,  not  knowing  where  else  to  bestow 
themselves,  had  sought  refuge  there;  they  were  crushed,  anni- 
hilated, like  dead  men.  He  did  not  linger  there,  but  pushed 
on  to  his  wife's  chamber,  which  was  the  next  room  on  the 
corridor.  A  lamp  was  burning  on  a  table  in  a  corner;  the 
profound  silence  seemed  to  shudder.  Gilberte  had  thrown 
herself  crosswise  on  the  bed,  fully  dressed,  doubtless  in  order 
to  be  prepared  for  any  catastrophe,  and  was  sleeping  peace- 
fully, while,  seated  on  a  chair  at  her  side  with  her  head 
declined  and  resting  lightly  on  the  very  edge  of  the  mattress, 
Henriette  was  also  slumbering,  with  a  fitful,  agitated  sleep, 
while  big  tears  welled  up  beneath  her  swollen  eyelids.  He 
contemplated  them  silently  for  a  moment,  strongly  tempted  to 
awake  and  question  the  young  woman  in  order  to  ascertain 
what  she  knew.  Had  she  succeeded  in  reaching  Bazeilles?  and 
why  was  it  that  she  was  back  there?  Perhaps  she  would  be 
able  to  give  him  some  tidings  of  his  dye-house  were  he  to  ask 
her?  A  feeling  of  compassion  stayed  him,  however,  and  he 
was  about  to  leave  the  room  when  his  mother,  ghost-like, 
appeared  at  the  threshold  of  the  open  door  and  beckoned  him 
to  follow  her. 


THE  DOWNFALL.  341 

As  they  were  passing  through  the  dining  room  he  expressed 
his  surprise. 

"What,  have  you  not  been  abed  to-night?" 

She  shook  her  head,  then  said  below  her  breath: 

"I  cannot  sleep;  I  have  been  sitting  in  an  easy-chair  beside 
the  colonel.  He  is  very  feverish;  he  awakes  at  every  instant, 
almost,  and  then  plies  me  with  questions.  I  don't  know  how 
to  answer  them.  Come  in  and  see  him,  you." 

M.  de  Vineuil  had  fallen  asleep  again.  His  long  face,  now 
brightly  red,  barred  by  the  sweeping  mustache  that  fell  across 
it  like  a  snowy  avalanche,  was  scarce  distinguishable  on  the 
pillow.  Mme.  Delaherche  had  placed  a  newspaper  before  the 
lamp  and  that  corner  of  the  room  was  lost  in  semi-darkness, 
while  all  the  intensity  of  the  bright  lamplight  was  concentrated 
on  her  where  she  sat,  uncompromisingly  erect,  in  her  fauteuil, 
her  hands  crossed  before  her  in  her  lap,  her  vague  eyes  bent 
on  space,  in  sorrowful  reverie. 

"I  think  he  must  have  heard  you,"  she  murmured;  "he  is 
awaking  again." 

It  was  so;  the  colonel,  without  moving  his  head,  had 
reopened  his  eyes  and  bent  them  on  Delaherche.  He  recog- 
nized him,  and  immediately  asked  in  a  voice  that  his  exhausted 
condition  made  tremulous: 

"It  is  all  over,  is  it  not?     We  have  capitulated." 

The  manufacturer,  who  encountered  the  look  his  mother 
cast  on  him  at  that  moment,  was  on  the  point  of  equivocating. 
But  what  good  would  it  do?  A  look  of  discouragement  passed 
across  his  face. 

"What  else  remained  to  do?  A  single  glance  at  the  streets 
of  the  city  would  convince  you.  General  de  Wimpffen  has 
just  set  out  for  Prussian  general  headquarters  to  discuss  con- 
ditions." 

M.  de  Vineuil's  eyes  closed  again,  his  long  frame  was  shaken 
with  a  protracted  shiver  of  supremely  bitter  grief,  and  this 
deep,  long-drawn  moan  escaped  his  lips: 

"Ah!  merciful  God,  merciful  God!"  And  without  opening 
his  eyes  he  went  on  in  faltering,  broken  accents:  "Ah!  the 
plan  I  spoke  of  yesterday — they  should  have  adopted  it.  Yes, 
I  knew  the  country;  I  spoke  of  my  apprehensions  to  the  gen- 
eral, but  even  him  they  would  not  listen  to.  Occupy  all  the 
heights  up  there  to  the  north,  from  Saint-Menges  to  Fleigneux, 
with  your  army  looking  down  on  and  commanding  Sedan, 
able  at  any  time  to  move  on  Vrigne-aux-Bois,  mistress  of 


342  THE  DOWNFALL. 

Saint-Albert's  pass — and  there  we  are;  our  positions  are 
impregnable,  the  Mezieres  road  is  under  our  control " 

His  speech  became  more  confused  as  he  proceeded;  he 
stammered  a  few  more  unintelligible  words,  while  the  vision  of 
the  battle  that  had  been  born  of  his  fever  little  by  little  grew 
blurred  and  dim  and  at  last  was  effaced  by  slumber.  He 
slept,  and  in  his  sleep  perhaps  the  honest  officer's  dreams  were 
dreams  of  victory. 

"Does  the  major  speak  favorably  of  his  case?"  Delaherche 
inquired  in  a  whisper. 

Madame  Delaherche  nodded  affirmatively 

"Those  wounds  in  the  foot  are  dreadful  things,  though," 
he  went  on.  "I  suppose  he  is  likely  to  be  laid  up  for  a  long 
time,  isn't  he?" 

She  made  him  no  answer  this  time,  as  if  all  her  being,  all 
her  faculties  were  concentrated  on  contemplating  the  great 
calamity  of  their  defeat.  She  was  of  another  age ;  she  was  a 
survival  of  that  strong  old  race  of  frontier  burghers  who 
defended  their  towns  so  valiantly  in  the  good  days  gone  by. 
The  clean-cut  lines  of  her  stern,  set  face,  with  its  fleshless, 
uncompromising  nose  and  thin  lips,  which  the  brilliant  light 
of  the  lamp  brought  out  in  high  relief  against  the  darkness  of 
the  room,  told  the  full  extent  of  her  stifled  rage  and  grief  and 
the  wound  sustained  by  her  antique  patriotism,  the  revolt  of 
which  refused  even  to  let  her  sleep. 

About  that  time  Delaherche  became  conscious  of  a  sensation 
of  isolation,  accompanied  by  a  most  uncomfortable  feeling  of 
physical  distress.  His  hunger  was  asserting  itself  again,  a 
griping,  intolerable  hunger,  and  he  persuaded  himself  that  it 
was  debility  alone  that  was  thus  robbing  him  of  courage  and 
resolution.  He  tiptoed  softly  from  the  room  and,  with  his 
candle,  again  made  his  way  down  to  the  kitchen,  but  the  spec- 
tacle he  witnessed  there  was  even  still  more  cheerless;  the 
range  cold  and  fireless,  the  closets  empty,  the  floor  strewn 
with  a  disorderly  litter  of  towels,  napkins,  dish-clouts  and 
women's  aprons;  as  if  the  hurricane  of  disaster  had  swept 
through  that  place  as  well,  bearing  away  on  its  wings  all  the 
charm  and  cheer  that  appertain  naturally  to  the  things  we  eat 
and  drink.  At  first  he  thought  he  was  not  going  to  discover  so 
much  as  a  crust,  what  was  left  over  of  the  bread  having  all 
found  its  way  to  the  ambulance  in  the  form  of  soup.  At  last, 
however,  in  the  dark  corner  of  a  cupboard  he  came  across 
the  remainder  of  the  beans  from  yesterday's  dinner,  where 


THE  DOWNFALL.  343 

they  had  been  forgotten,  and  ate  them.  He  accomplished  his 
luxurious  repast  without  the  formality  of  sitting  down,  without 
the  accompaniment  of  salt  and  butter,  for  which  he  did  not 
care  to  trouble  himself  to  ascend  to  the  floor  above,  desirous 
only  to  get  away  as  speedily  as  possible  from  that  dismal 
kitchen,  where  the  blinking,  smoking  little  lamp  perfumed  the 
air  with  fumes  of  petroleum. 

It  was  not  much  more  than  ten  o'clock,  and  Delaherche  had 
no  other  occupation  than  to  speculate  on  the  various  proba- 
bilities connected  with  the  signing  of  the  capitulation.  A  per- 
sistent apprehension  haunted  him;  a  dread  lest  the  conflict 
might  be  renewed,  and  the  horrible  thought  of  what  the  con- 
sequences must  be  in  such  an  event,  of  which  he  could  not 
speak,  but  which  rested  on  his  bosom  like  an  incubus.  When 
he  had  reascended  to  his  study,  where  he  found  Maurice  and 
Jean  in  exactly  the  same  position  he  had  left  them  in,  it  was 
all  in  vain  that  he  settled  himself  comfortably  in  his  favorite 
easy-chair;  sleep  would  not  come  to  him;  just  as  he  was  on  the 
point  of  losing  himself  the  crash  of  a  shell  would  arouse  him 
with  a  great  start.  It  was  the  frightful  cannonade  of  the  day, 
the  echoes  of  which  were  still  ringing  in  his  ears;  and  he 
would  listen  breathlessly  for  a  moment,  then  sit  and  shudder  at 
the  equally  appalling  silence  by  which  he  was  now  surrounded. 
As  he  could  not  sleep  he  preferred  to  move  about;  he  wan- 
dered aimlessly  among  the  rooms,  taking  care  to  avoid  that  in 
which  his  mother  was  sitting  by  the  colonel's  bedside,  for  the 
steady  gaze  with  which  she  watched  him  as  he  tramped  nerv- 
ously up  and  down  had  finally  had  the  effect  of  disconcerting 
him.  Twice  he  returned  to  see  if  Henriette  had  not  awak- 
ened, and  he  paused  an  instant  to  glance  at  his  wife's  pretty 
face,  so  calmly  peaceful,  on  which  seemed  to  be  flitting  some- 
thing like  the  faint  shadow  of  a  smile.  Then,  knowing  not 
what  to  do,  he  went  downstairs  again,  came  back,  moved 
about  from  room  to  room,  until  it  was  nearly  two  in  the  morn- 
ing, wearying  his  ears  with  trying  to  decipher  some  meaning 
in  the  sounds  that  came  to  him  from  without. 

This  condition  of  affairs  could  not  last.  Delaherche 
resolved  to  return  once  more  to  the  Sous-Prefecture,  feeling 
assured  that  all  rest  would  be  quite  out  of  the  question  for  him 
so  long  as  his  ignorance  continued.  A  feeling  of  despair 
seized  him,  however,  when  he  went  downstairs  and  looked  out 
upon  the  densely  crowded  street,  where  the  confusion  seemed 
to  be  worse  than  ever ;  never  would  he  have  the  strength  to 


344  THE  DOWNFALL. 

fight  his  way  to  the  Place  Turenne  and  back  again  through 
obstacles  the  mere  memory  of  which  caused  every  bone  in  his 
body  to  ache  again.  And  he  was  mentally  discussing  matters, 
when  who  should  come  up  but  Major  Bouroche,  panting, 
perspiring,  and  swearing. 

" Tonnerre  de  Dieu  !  I  wonder  if  my  head's  on  my  shoul- 
ders or  not!" 

He  had  been  obliged  to  visit  the  Hotel  de  Ville  to  see  the 
mayor  about  his  supply  of  chloroform,  and  urge  him  to  issue  a 
requisition  for  a  quantity,  for  he  had  many  operations  to  per- 
form, his  stock  of  the  drug  was  exhausted,  and  he  was  afraid, 
he  said,  that  he  should  be  compelled  to  carve  up  the  poor 
devils  without  putting  them  to  sleep. 

"Well?"  inquired  Delaherche. 

"Well,  they  can't  even  tell  whether  the  apothecaries  have 
any  or  not!" 

But  the  manufacturer  was  thinking  of  other  things  than 
chloroform.  "No,  no,"  he  continued.  "Have  they  brought 
matters  to  a  conclusion  yet?  Have  they  signed  the  agreement 
with  the  Prussians?" 

The  major  made  a  gesture  of  impatience.  "There  is  noth- 
ing concluded,"  he  cried.  "It  appears  that  those  scoundrels 
are  making  demands  out  of  all  reason.  Ah,  well;  let  'em 
commence  afresh,  then,  and  we'll  all  leave  our  bones  here. 
That  will  be  best!" 

Delaherche's  face  grew  very  pale  as  he  listened.  "But  are 
you  quite  sure  these  things  are  so?" 

"I  was  told  them  by  those  fellows  of  the  municipal  council, 
who  are  in  permanent  session  at  the  city  hall.  An  officer  had 
been  dispatched  from  the  Sous-Prefecture  to  lay  the  whole 
affair  before  them." 

And  he  went  on  to  furnish  additional  details.  The  inter- 
view had  taken  place  at  the  Chateau  de  Bellevue,  near  Don- 
chery,  and  the  participants  were  General  de  Wimpffen,  Gen- 
.eral  von  Moltke,  and  Bismarck.  A  stern  and  inflexible  man 
was  that  von  Moltke,  a  terrible  man  to  deal  with!  He  began 
by  demonstrating  that  he  was  perfectly  acquainted  with  the 
hopeless  situation  of  the  French  army ;  it  was  destitute  of 
ammunition  and  subsistence,  demoralization  and  disorder  per- 
vaded its  ranks,  it  was  utterly  powerless  to  break  the  iron 
circle  by  which  it  was  girt  about;  while  on  the  other  hand  the 
German  armies  occupied  commanding  positions  from  which 
they  could  lay  the  city  in  ashes  in  two  hours.  Coldly,  unimpas- 


THE  DOWNFALL.  345 

sionedly,  he  stated  his  terms:  the  entire  French  army  to  sur- 
render arms  and  baggage  and  be  treated  as  prisoners  of  war. 
Bismarck  took  no  part  in  the  discussion  beyond  giving  the 
general  his  support,  occasionally  showing  his  teeth,  like  a  big 
mastiff,  inclined  to  be  pacific  on  the  whole,  but  quite  ready  to 
rend  and  tear  should  there  be  occasion  for  it.  General  de 
VVimpffen  in  reply  protested  with  all  the  force  he  had  at  his 
command  against  these  conditions,  the  most  severe  that  ever 
were  imposed  on  a  vanquished  army.  He  spoke  of  his  per- 
sonal grief  and  ill-fortune,  the  bravery  of  the  troops,  the  dan- 
ger there  was  in  driving  a  proud  nation  to  extremity;  for  three 
hours  he  spoke  with  all  the  energy  and  eloquence  of  despair, 
alternately  threatening  and  entreating,  demanding  that  they 
should  content  themselves  with  interning  their  prisoners  in 
France,  or  even  in  Algeria;  and  in  the  end  the  only  concession 
granted  was  that  the  officers  might  retain  their  swords,  and 
those  among  them  who  should  enter  into  a  solemn  arrange- 
ment, attested  by  a  written  parole,  to  serve  no  more  during  the 
war,  might  return  to  their  homes.  Finally,  the  armistice  to  be 
prolonged  until  the  next  morning  at  ten  o'clock  ;  if  at  that 
time  the  terms  had  not  been  accepted,  the  Prussian  batteries 
would  reopen  fire  and  the  city  would  be  burned. 

"That's  stupid!"  exclaimed  Delaherche;  "they  have  no 
right  to  burn  a  city  that  has  done  nothing  to  deserve  it!" 

The  major  gave  him  still  further  food  for  anxiety  by  adding 
that  some  officers  whom  he  had  met  at  the  Hotel  de  1' Europe 
were  talking  of  making  a  sortie  en  masse  just  before  daylight. 
An  extremely  excited  state  of  feeling  had  prevailed,  since  the 
tenor  of  the  German  demands  had  become  known,  and  meas- 
ures the  most  extravagant  were  proposed  and  discussed.  No 
one  seemed  to  be  deterred  by  the  consideration  that  it  would 
be  dishonorable  to  break  the  truce,  taking  advantage  of  the 
darkness  and  giving  the  enemy  no  notification,  and  the  wildest, 
most  visionary  schemes  were  offered;  they  would  resume  the 
march  on  Carignan,  hewing  their  way  through  the  Bavarians, 
which  they  could  do  in  the  black  night;  they  would  recapture 
the  plateau  of  Illy  by  a  surprise ;  they  would  raise  the  blockade 
of  the  Mezieres  road,  or,  by  a  determined,  simultaneous  rush, 
would  force  the  German  lines  and  throw  themselves  into  Bel- 
gium. Others  there  were,  indeed,  who,  feeling  the  hopeless- 
ness of  their  position,  said  nothing;  they  would  have  accepted 
any  terms,  signed  any  paper,  with  a  glad  cry  of  relief,  simply 
to  have  the  affair  ended  and  done  with. 


34  THE  DOWNFALL. 

"Good-night!"  Bouroche  said  in  conclusion.  "I  am 
going  to  try  to  sleep  a  couple  of  hours;  I  need  it  badly." 

When  left  by  himself  Delaherche  could  hardly  breathe. 
What,  could  it  be  true  that  they  were  going  to  fight  again,  were 
going  to  burn  and  raze  Sedan !  It  was  certainly  to  be,  soon  as 
the  morrow's  sun  should  be  high  enough  upon  the  hills  to  light 
the  horror  of  the  sacrifice.  And  once  again  he  almost  uncon- 
sciously climbed  the  steep  ladder  that  led  to  the  roofs  and 
found  himself  standing  among  the  chimneys,  at  the  edge  of  the 
narrow  terrace  that  overlooked  the  city;  but  at  that  hour  of 
the  night  the  darkness  was  intense  and  he  could  distinguish 
absolutely  nothing  amid  the  swirling  waves  of  the  Cimmerian 
sea  that  lay  beneath  him.  Then  the  buildings  of  the  factory 
below  were  the  first  objects  which,  one  by  one,  disentangled 
themselves  from  the  shadows  and  stood  out  before  his  vision 
in  indistinct  masses,  which  he  had  no  difficulty  in  recognizing: 
the  engine-house,  the  shops,  the  drying  rooms,  the  storehouses, 
and  when  he  reflected  that  within  twenty-four  hours  there 
would  remain  of  that  imposing  block  of  buildings,  his  fortune 
and  his  pride,  naught  save  charred  timbers  and  crumbling 
walls,  he  overflowed  with  pity  for  himself.  He  raised  his 
glance  thence  once  more  to  the  horizon,  and  sent  it  traveling 
in  a  circuit  around  that  profound,  mys'terious  veil  of  blackness 
behind  which  lay  slumbering  the  menace  of  the  morrow.  To 
the  south,  in  the  direction  of  Bazeilles,  a  few  quivering  little 
flames  that  rose  fitfully  on  the  air  told  where  had  been  the 
site  of  the  unhappy  village,  while  toward  the  north  the  farm- 
house in  the  wood  of  la  Garenne,  that  had  been  fired  late  in 
the  afternoon,  was  burning  still,  and  the  trees  about  were  dyed 
of  a  deep  red  with  the  ruddy  blaze.  Beyond  the  intermittent 
flashing  of  those  two  baleful  fires  no  light  to  be  seen;  the 
brooding  silence  unbroken  by  any  sound  save  those  half-heard 
mutterings  that  pass  through  the  air  like  harbingers  of  evil; 
about  them,  everywhere,  the  unfathomable  abyss,  dead  and 
lifeless.  Off  there  in  the  distance,  very  far  away,  perhaps, 
perhaps  upon  the  ramparts,  was  a  sound  of  someone  weeping. 
It  was  all  in  vain  that  he  strained  his  eyes  to  pierce  the  veil, 
to  see  something  of  Liry,  la  Marfee,  the  batteries  of  Frenois, 
and  Wadelincourt,  that  encircling  belt  of  bronze  monsters  of 
which  he  could  instinctively  feel  the  presence  there,  with  their 
outstretched  necks  and  yawning,  ravenous  muzzles.  And  as 
he  recalled  his  glance  and  let  it  fall  upon  the  city  that  lay 
around  and  beneath  him,  he  heard  its  frightened  breathing. 
It  was  not  alone  the  unquiet  slumbers  of  the  soldiers  who  had 


THE  DOWNFALL.  347 

fallen  in  the  streets,  the  blending  of  inarticulate  sounds  pro- 
duced by  that  gathering  of  guns,  men,  and  horses;  what  he 
fancied  he  could  distinguish  was  the  insomnia,  the  alarmed 
watchfulness  of  his  bourgeois  neighbors,  who,  no  more  than  he, 
could  sleep,  quivering  with  feverish  terrors,  awaiting  anxiously 
the  coming  of  the  day.  They  all  must  be  aware  that  the 
capitulation  had  not  been  signed,  and  were  all  counting  the 
hours,  quaking  at  the  thought  that  should  it  not  be  signed  the 
sole  resource  left  them  would  be  to  go  down  into  their  cellars 
and  wait  for  their  own  walls  to  tumble  in  on  them  and  crush 
the  life  from  their  bodies.  The  voice  of  one  in  sore  straits 
came  up,  it  seemed  to  him,  from  the  Rue  des  Voyards,  shout- 
ing: "Help!  murder!"  amid  the  clash  of  arms.  He  bent 
over  the  terrace  to  look,  then  remained  aloft  there  in  the 
murky  thickness  of  the  night  where  there  was  not  a  star  to 
cheer  him,  wrapped  in  such  an  ecstasy  of  terror  that  the  hairs 
of  his  body  stood  erect. 

Below-stairs,  at  early  daybreak,  Maurice  awoke  upon  his 
sofa.  He  was  sore  and  stiff  as  if  he  had  been  racked;  he  did 
not  stir,  but  lay  looking  listlessly  at  the  windows,  which  grad- 
ually grew  white  under  the  light  of  a  cloudy  dawn.  The  hate- 
ful memories  of  the  day  before  all  came  back  to  him  with  that 
distinctness  that  characterizes  the  impressions  of  our  first  wak- 
ing, how  they  had  fought,  fled,  surrendered.  It  all  rose  before 
his  vision,  down  to  the  very  least  detail,  and  he  brooded  with 
horrible  anguish  on  the  defeat,  whose  reproachful  echoes 
seemed  to  penetrate  to  the  inmost  fibers  of  his  being,  as  if  he 
felt  that  all  the  responsibility  of  it  was  his.  And  he  went  on 
to  reason  on  the  cause  of  the  evil,  analyzing  himself,  reverting 
to  his  old  habit  of  bitter  and  unavailing  self-reproach.  He 
would  have  felt  so  brave,  so  glorious  had  victory  remained 
with  them!  And  now,  in  defeat,  weak  and  nervous  as  a 
woman,  he  once  again  gave  way  to  one  of  those  overwhelming 
fits  of  despair  in  which  the  entire  world  seemed  to  him  to  be 
foundering.  Nothing  was  left  them;  the  end  of  France  was 
come.  His  frame  was  shaken  by  a  storm  of  sobs,  he  wept  hot 
tears,  and  joining  his  hands,  the  prayers  of  his  childhood  rose 
to  his  lips  in  stammering  accents. 

"O  God!  take  me  unto  Thee!  O  God!  take  unto  Thyself 
all  those  who  are  weary  and  heavy-laden!" 

Jean,  lying  on  the  floor  wrapped  in  his  bed-quilt,  began  to 
show  some  signs  of  life.  Finally,  astonished  at  what  he  heard, 
he  arose  to  a  sitting  posture. 

"What  is   the   matter,    youngster?    Are   you   ill?"     Then, 


348  THE  DOWNFALL. 

with  a  glimmering  perception  of  how  matters  stood,  he  adopted 
a  more  paternal  tone.  "Come,  tell  me  what  the  matter  is. 
You  must  not  let  yourself  be  worried  by  such  a  little  thing  as 
this,  you  know." 

"Ah!"  exclaimed  Maurice,  "it  is  all  up  with  us,  va !  we 
are  Prussians  now,  and  we  may  as  well  make  up  our  mind 
to  it." 

As  the  peasant,  with  the  hard-headedness  of  the  uneduca- 
ted, expressed  surprise  to  hear  him  talk  thus,  he  endeavored  to 
make  it  clear  to  him  that,  the  race  being  degenerate  and 
exhausted, it  must  disappear  and  make  room  for  a  newer  and 
more  vigorous  strain.  But  the  other,  with  an  obstinate  shake 
of  the  head,  would  not  listen  to  the  explanation. 

"What!  would  you  try  to  make  me  believe  that  my  bit  of 
land  is  no  longer  mine?  that  I  would  permit  the  Prussians  to 
take  it  from  me  while  I  am  alive  and  my  two  arms  are  left  to 
me?  Come,  come!" 

Then  painfully,  in  such  terms  as  he  could  command,  he 
went  on  to  tell  how  affairs  looked  to  him.  They  had  received 
an  all-fired  good  basting,  that  was  sure  as  sure  could  be!  but 
they  were  not  all  dead  yet,  he  didn't  believe;  there  were  some 
left,  and  those  would  suffice  to  rebuild  the  house  if  they  only 
behaved  themselves,  working  hard  and  not  drinking  up  what 
they  earned.  When  a  family  has  trouble,  if  its  members  work 
and  put  by  a  little  something,  they  will  pull  through,  in  spite 
of  all  the  bad  luck  in  the  world.  And  further,  it  is  not  such  a 
bad  thing  to  get  a  good  cuffing  once  in  a  way;  it  sets  one 
thinking.  And,  great  heavens!  if  a  man  has  something  rotten 
about  him,  if  he  has  gangrene  in  his  arms  or  legs  that  is 
spreading  all  the  time,  isn't  it  better  to  take  a  hatchet  and  lop 
them  off  rather  than  die  as  he  would  from  cholera? 

"All  up,  all  up!  Ah,  no,  no!  no,  no!"  he  repeated  several 
times.  "It  is  not  all  up  with  me,  I  know  very  well  it  is  not." 

And  notwithstanding  his  seedy  condition  and  demoralized 
appearance,  his  hair  all  matted  and  pasted  to  his  head  by  the 
blood  that  had  flowed  from  his  wound,  he  'drew  himself  up 
defiantly,  animated  by  a  keen  desire  to  live,  to  take  up  the 
tools  of  his  trade  or  put  his  hand  to  the  plow,  in  order,  to  use 
his  own  expression,  to  "rebuild  the  house."  He  was  of  the 
old  soil  where  reason  and  obstinacy  grow  side  by  side,  of  the 
land  of  toil  and  thrift. 

"All  the  same,  though,"  he  continued,  "I  am  sorry  for  the 
Emperor,  Affairs  seemed  to  be  going  on  well;  the  farmers 


THE  DOWNFALL.  349 

•were  getting  a  good  price  for  their  grain.  But  surely  it  was 
•bad  judgment  on  his  part  to  allow  himself  to  become  involved 
>m  this  business!" 

Maurice,  who  was  still  in  "the  blues,"  spoke  regretfully: 
"Ah,  the  Emperor!  I  always  liked  him  in  my  heart,  in  spite 
of  my  republican  ideas.  Yes,  I  had  it  in  the  blood,  on  account 
of  my  grandfather,  I  suppose.  And  now  that  that  limb  is 
rotten  and  we  shall  have  to  lop  it  off,  what  is  going  to  become 
of  us?" 

His  eyes  began  to  wander,  and  his  voice  and  manner  evinced 
such  distress  that  Jean  became  alarmed  and  was  about  to  rise 
and  go  to  him,  when  Henriette  came  into  the  room.  She  had 
just  awakened  on  hearing  the  sound  of  voices  in  the  room 
adjoining  hers.  The  pale  light  of  a  cloudy  morning  now 
illuminated  the  apartment. 

"'You  come  just  in  time  to  give  him  a  scolding,"  he  said, 
with  an  affectation  of  liveliness.  "He  is  not  a  good  boy  this 
morning." 

But  the  sight  of  his  sister's  pale,  sad  face  and  the  recollec- 
tion of  her  affliction  had  had  a  salutary  effect  on  Maurice  by 
determining  a  sudden  crisis  of  tenderness.  He  opened  his 
arms  and  took  her  to  his  bosom,  and  when  she  rested  her  head 
upon  his  shoulder,  when  he  held  her  locked  in  a  close  embrace, 
a  feeling  of  great  gentleness  pervaded  him  and  they  mingled 
their  tears. 

""Ah,  my  poor,  poor  darling,  why  have  I  not  more  strength 
•and  courage  to  console  you !  for  my  sorrows  are  as  nothing 
compared  with  yours.  That  good,  faithful  Weiss,  the  husband 
who  loved  you  so  fondly!  What  will  become  of  you?  You 
have  always  been  the  victim;  always,  and  never  a  murmur 
from  your  lips.  Think  of  the  sorrow  I  have  already  caused 
you,  and  who  can  say  that  I  shall  not  cause  you  still  more  in 
the  future!" 

She  was  silencing  him,  placing  her  hand  upon  his  mouth, 
when  Delaherche  came  into  the  room,  beside  himself  with 
indignation.  While  still  on  the  terrace  he  had  been  seized  by 
<one  of  those  uncontrollable  nervous  fits  of  hunger  that  are 
.aggravated  by  fatigue,  and  bad  descended  to  the  kitchen  in 
quest  of  something  warm  to  drink,  where  he  had  found,  keep- 
ing company  with  his  coojk,  a  relative  of  hers,  a  carpenter  of 
Bazeilles,  whom  she  was  in  the  act  of  treating  to  a  bowl  of  hot 
wine.  This  person,  who  bad  been  one  of  the  last  to  leave  the 
place  while  the  conflagrates  were  at  their  height,  had  told 


35°  THE  DOWNFALL. 

him  that  his  dyehouse  was  utterly  destroyed,  nothing  left  of  it 
but  a  heap  of  ruins. 

"The  robbers,  the  thieves!  Would  you  have  believed  it, 
hein  ?"  he  stammered,  addressing  Jean  and  Maurice.  "There 
is  no  hope  left;  they  mean  to  burn  Sedan  this  morning  as  they 
burned  Bazeilles  yesterday.  I'm  ruined,  I'm  ruined!"  The 
scar  that  Henriette  bore  on  her  forehead  attracted  his  atten- 
tion, and  he  remembered  that  he  had  not  spoken  to  her  yet. 
"It  is  true,  you  went  there,  after  all;  you  got  that  wound — 
Ah!  poor  Weiss!" 

And  seeing  by  the  young  woman's  tears  that  she  was 
acquainted  with  her  husband's  fate,  he  abruptly  blurted  out 
the  horrible  bit  of  news  that  the  carpenter  had  communicated 
to  him  among  the  rest. 

"Poor  Weiss!  it  seems  they  burned  him.  Yes,  after  shoot- 
ing all  the  civilians  who  were  caught  with  arms  in  their  hands, 
they  threw  their  bodies  into  the  flames  of  a  burning  house  and 
poured  petroleum  over  them." 

Henriette  was  horror-stricken  as  she  listened.  Her  tears 
burst  forth,  her  frame  was  shaken  by  her  sobs.  My  God,  my 
God,  not  even  the  poor  comfort  of  going  to  claim  her  dear 
dead  and  give  him  decent  sepulture;  his  ashes  were  to  be  scat- 
tered by  the  winds  of  heaven !  Maurice  had  again  clasped  her 
in  his  arms  and  spoke  to  her  endearingly,  calling  her  his  poor 
Cinderella,  beseeching  her  not  to  take  the  matter  so  to  heart, 
a  brave  woman  as  she  was. 

After  a  time,  during  which  no  word  was  spoken,  Delaherche, 
who  had  been  standing  at  the  window  watching  the  growing 
day,  suddenly  turned  and  addressed  the  two  soldiers: 

"By  the  way,  I  was  near  forgetting.  What  I  came  up  here 
to  tell  you  is  this:  down  in  the  courtyard,  in  the  shed  where 
the  treasure  chests  were  deposited,  there  is  an  officer  who  is 
about  to  distribute  the  money  among  the  men,  so  as  to  keep 
the  Prussians  from  getting  it.  You  had  better  go  down,  for  a 
little  money  may  be  useful  to  you,  that  is,  provided  we  are  all 
alive  a  few  hours  hence." 

The  advice  was  good,  and  Maurice  and  Jean  acted  on  it, 
having  first  prevailed  on  Henriette  to  take  her  brother's  place 
on  the  sofa.  If  she  could  not  go  to  sleep  again,  she  would  at 
least  be  securing  some  repose.  As  for  Delaherche,  he  passed 
through  the  adjoining  chamber,  where  Gilberte  with  her  tran- 
quil, pretty  face  was  slumbering  still  as  soundly  as  a  child, 
neither  the  sound  of  conversation  nor  even  Henrietta's  sobs 


THE  DOWNFALL.  35 1 

having  availed  to  make  her  change  her  position.  From 
there  he  went  to  the  apartment  where  his  mother  was  watching 
at  Colonel  de  Vineuil's  bedside,  and  thrust  his  head  through 
the  door;  the  old  lady  was  asleep  in  her  fauteuil,  while  the 
colonel,  his  eyes  closed,  was  like  a  corpse.  He  opened  them 
to  their  full  extent  and  asked: 

"Well,  it's  all  over,  isn't  it?" 

Irritated  by  the  question,  which  detained  him  at  the  very 
moment  when  he  thought  he  should  be  able  to  slip  away 
unobserved,  Delaherche  gave  a  wrathful  look  and  murmured, 
sinking  his  voice: 

"Oh,  yes,  all  over!  until  it  begins  again!  There  is  nothing 
signed." 

The  colonel  went  on  in  a  voice  scarcely  higher  than  a 
whisper;  delirium  was  setting  in. 

"Merciful  God,  let  me  die  before  the  end!  I  do  not  hear 
the  guns.  Why  have  they  ceased  firing?  Up  there  at  Saint- 
Menges,  at  Fleigneux,  we  have  command  of  all  the  roads; 
should  the  Prussians  dare  turn  Sedan  and  attack  us,  we  will 
drive  them  into  the  Meuse.  The  city  is  there,  an  insurmount- 
able obstacle  between  us  and  them;  our  positions,  too,  are  the 
stronger.  Forward!  the  yth  corps  will  lead,  the  i2th  will 
protect  the  retreat " 

And  his  fingers  kept  drumming  on  the  counterpane  with  a 
measured  movement,  as  if  keeping  time  with  the  trot  of  the 
charger  he  was  riding  in  his  vision.  Gradually  the  motion 
became  slower  and  slower  as  his  words  became  more  indis- 
tinct and  he  sank  off  into  slumber.  It  ceased,  and  he  lay 
motionless  and  still,  as  if  the  breath  had  left  his  body. 

"Lie  still  and  rest,"  Delaherche  whispered;  "when  I  have 
news  I  will  return." 

Then,  having  first  assured  himself  that  he  had  not  disturbed 
his  mother's  slumber,  he  slipped  away  and  disappeared. 

Jean  and  Maurice,  on  descending  to  the  shed  in  the  court- 
yard, had  found  there  an  officer  of  the  pay  department,  seated 
on  a  common  kitchen  chair  behind  a  little  unpainted  pine 
table,  who,  without  pen,  ink,  or  paper,  without  taking  receipts 
or  indulging  in  formalities  of  any  kind,  was  dispensing  for- 
tunes. He  simply  stuck  his  hand  into  the  open  mouth  of  the 
bags  filled  with  bright  gold  pieces,  and  as  the  sergeants  of  the 
yth  corps  passed  in  line  before  him  he  filled  their  kfyis,  never 
counting  what  he  bestowed  with  such  rapid  liberality.  The 
understanding  was  that  the  sergeants  were  subsequently  to 


35  2  THE  DOWNFALL. 

divide  what  they  received  with  the  surviving  men  of  their  half- 
sections.  Each  of  them  received  his  portion  awkwardly,  as  if 
it  had  been  a  ration  of  meat  or  coffee,  then  stalked  off  in  an 
embarrassed,  self-conscious  sort  of  way,  transferring  the  con- 
tents of  the  kepi  to  his  trousers'  pockets  so  as  not  to  display 
his  wealth  to  the  world  at  large.  And  not  a  word  was  spoken; 
there  was  not  a  sound  to  be  heard  but  the  crystalline  chink 
and  rattle  of  the  coin  as  it  was  received  by  those  poor  devils, 
dumfounded  to  see  the  responsibility  of  such  riches  thrust  on 
them  when  there  was  not  a  place  in  the  city  where  they  could 
purchase  a  loaf  of  bread  or  a  quart  of  wine. 

When  Jean  and  Maurice  appeared  before  him  the  officer, 
who  was  holding  outstretched  his  hand  filled,  as  usual,  with 
louis,  drew  it  back. 

"Neither  of  you  fellows  is  a  sergeant.  No  one  except 
sergeants  is  entitled  to  receive  the  money."  Then,  in  haste 
to  be  done  with  his  task,  he  changed  his  mind:  "Never  mind, 
though;  here,  you  corporal,  take  this.  Step  lively,  now. 
Next  man!" 

And  he  dropped  the  gold  coins  into  the  kepi  that  Jean  held 
out  to  him.  The  latter,  oppressed  by  the  magnitude  of  the 
amount,  nearly  six  hundred  francs,  insisted  that  Maurice 
should  take  one-half.  No  one  could  say  what  might  happen; 
they  might  be  parted  from  each  other. 

They  made  the  division  in  the  garden,  before  the  ambu- 
lance, and  when  they  had  concluded  their  financial  business 
they  entered,  having  recognized  on  the  straw  near  the  entrance 
the  drummer-boy  of  their  company,  Bastian,  a  fat,  good- 
natured  little  fellow,  who  had  had  the  ill-luck  to  receive  a 
spent  ball  in  the  groin  about  five  o'clock  the  day  before,  when 
the  battle  was  ended.  He  had  been  dying  by  inches  for  the 
last  twelve  hours. 

In  the  dim,  white  light  of  morning,  at  that  hour  of  awaken- 
ing, the  sight  of  the  ambulance  sent  a  chill  of  horror  through 
them.  Three  more  patients  had  died  during  the  night,  with- 
out anyone  being  aware  of  it,  and  the  attendants  were  hur- 
riedly bearing  away  the  corpses  in  order  to  make  room  for 
others.  Those  who  had  been  operated  on  the  day  before 
opened  wide  their  eyes  in  their  somnolent,  semi-conscious 
state,  and  looked  with  dazed  astonishment  on  that  vast  dormi- 
tory of  suffering,  where  the  victims  of  the  knife,  only  half- 
slaughtered,  rested  on  their  straw.  It  was  in  vain  that  some 
attempts  had  been  made  the  night  before  to  clean  up  the  room 


THE  DOWNFALL.  353 

after  the  bloody  work  of  the  operations;  there  were  great 
splotches  of  blood  on  the  ill-swept  floor;  in  a  bucket  of  water 
a  great  sponge  was  floating,  stained  with  red,  for  all  the  world 
like  a  human  brain ;  a  hand,  its  fingers  crushed  and  broken, 
had  been  overlooked  and  lay  on  the  floor  of  the  shed.  It  was 
the  parings  and  trimmings  of  the  human  butcher  shop,  the 
horrible  waste  and  refuse  that  ensues  upon  a  day  of  slaughter, 
viewed  in  the  cold,  raw  light  of  dawn. 

Bouroche,  who,  after  a  few  hours  of  repose,  had  already 
resumed  his  duties,  stopped  in  front  of  the  wounded  drummer- 
boy,  Bastian,  then  passed  on  with  an  imperceptible  shrug  of 
his  shoulders.  A  hopeless  case;  nothing  to  be  done.  The 
lad  had  opened  his  eyes,  however,  and  emerging  from  the 
comatose  state  in  which  he  had  been  lying,  was  eagerly  watch- 
ing a  sergeant  who,  his  kepi  filled  with  gold  in  his  hand,  had 
come  into  the  room  to  see  if  there  were  any  of  his  men  among 
those  poor  wretches.  He  found  two,  and  to  each  of  them 
gave  twenty  francs.  Other  sergeants  came  in,  and  the  gold 
began  to  fall  in  showers  upon  the  straw,  among  the  dying  men. 
Bastian,  who  had  managed  to  raise  himself,  stretched  out  his 
two  hands,  even  then  shaking  in  the  final  agony. 

"Don't  forget  me!   don't  forget  me!" 

The  sergeant  would  have  passed  on  and  gone  his  way,  as 
Bouroche  had  done.  What  good  could  money  do  there? 
Then  yielding  to  a  kindly  impulse,  he  threw  some  coins,  never 
stopping  to  count  them,  into  the  poor  hands  that  were  already 
cold. 

"Don't  forget  me!   don't  forget  me!" 

Bastian  fell  backward  on  his  straw.  For  a  long  time  he 
groped  with  stiffening  fingers  for  the  elusive  gold,  which 
seemed  to  avoid  him.  And  thus  he  died. 

"The  gentleman  has  blown  his  candle  out;  good-night!" 
said  a  little,  black,  wizened  zouave,  who  occupied  the  next 
bed.  "It's  vexatious,  when  one  has  the  wherewithal  to  pay 
for  wetting  his  whistle!" 

He  had  his  left  foot  done  up  in  splints.  Nevertheless  he 
managed  to  raise  himself  on  his  knees  and  elbows  and  in  this 
posture  crawl  over  to  the  dead  man,  whom  he  relieved  of  all 
his  money,  forcing  open  his  hands,  rummaging  among  his 
clothing  and  the  folds  of  his  capote.  When  he  got  back  to 
his  place,  noticing  that  he  was  observed,  he  simply  said: 

"There's  no  use  letting  the  stuff  be  wasted,  is  there?" 

Maurice,  sick  at  heart  in  that  atmosphere  of  human  distress 


354  THE  DOWNFALL. 

and  suffering,  had  long  since  dragged  Jean  away.  As  they 
passed  out  through  the  shed  where  the  operations  were  per- 
formed they  saw  Bouroche  preparing  to  amputate  the  leg  of 
a  poor  little  man  of  twenty,  without  chloroform,  he  having 
been  unable  to  obtain  a  further  supply  of  the  anaesthetic.  And 
they  fled,  running,  so  as  not  to  hear  the  poor  boy's  shrieks. 

Delaherche,  who  came  in  from  the  street  just  then,  beck- 
oned to  them  and  shouted: 

"Come  upstairs,  come,  quick!  we  are  going  to  have  break- 
fast. The  cook  has  succeeded  in  procuring  some  milk,  and  it 
is  well  she  did,  for  we  are  all  in  great  need  of  something  to 
warm  our  stomachs."  And  notwithstanding  his  efforts  to  do 
so,  he  could  not  entirely  repress  his  delight  and  exultation. 
With  a  radiant  countenance  he  added,  lowering  his  voice:  "It 
is  all  right  this  time.  General  de  Wimpffen  has  set  out  again 
for  the  German  headquarters  to  sign  the  capitulation." 

Ah,  how  much  those  words  meant  to  him,  what  comfort 
there  was  in  them,  what  relief!  his  horrid  nightmare  dispelled, 
his  property  saved  from  destruction,  his  daily  life  to  be 
resumed,  under  changed  conditions,  it  is  true,  but  still  it  was 
to  go  on,  it  was  not  to  cease!  It  was  little  Rose  who  had  told 
him  of  the  occurrences  of  the  morning  at  the  Sous-Prefecture; 
the  girl  had  come  hastening  through  the  streets,  now  some- 
what less  choked  than  they  had  been,  to  obtain  a  supply  of 
bread  from  an  aunt  of  hers  who  kept  a  baker's  shop  in  the 
quarter;  it  was  striking  nine  o'clock.  As  early  as  eight  Gen- 
eral de  Wimpffen  had  convened  another  council  of  war,  con- 
sisting of  more  than  thirty  generals,  to  whom  he  related  the 
results  that  had  been  reached  so  far,  the  hard  conditions 
imposed  by  the  victorious  foe,  and  his  own  fruitless  efforts  to 
secure  a  mitigation  of  them.  His  emotion  was  such  that  his 
hands  shook  like  a  leaf,  his  eyes  were  suffused  with  tears.  He 
was  still  addressing  the  assemblage  when  a  colonel  of  the  Ger- 
man staff  presented  himself,  on  behalf  of  General  von  Moltke, 
to  remind  them  that,  unless  a  decision  were  arrived  at  by  ten 
o'clock,  their  guns  would  open  fire  on  the  city  of  Sedan. 
With  this  horrible  alternative  before  them  the  council  could  do 
nothing  save  authorize  the  general  to  proceed  once  more  to 
the  Chateau  of  Bellevue  and  accept  the  terms  of  the  victors. 
He  must  have  accomplished  his  mission  by  that  time,  and  the 
entire  French  army  were  prisoners  of  war. 

When  she  had  concluded  her  narrative  Rose  launched  out 
into  a  detailed  account  of  the  tremendous  excitement  the  tidings 


THE  DOWNFALL.  355 

had  produced  in  the  city.  At  the  Sous-Prefecture  she  had 
seen  officers  tear  the  epaulettes  from  their  shoulders,  weeping 
meanwhile  like  children.  Cavalrymen  had  thrown  their  sabers 
from  the  Pont  de  Meuse  into  the  river;  an  entire  regiment  of 
cuirassiers  had  passed,  each  man  tossing  his  blade  over  the 
parapet  and  sorrowfully  watching  the  water  close  over  it.  In 
the  streets  many  soldiers  grasped  their  muskets  by  the  barrel 
and  smashed  them  against  a  wall,  while  there  were  artillerymen 
who  removed  the  mechanism  from  the  mitrailleuses  and  flung 
it  into  the  sewer.  Some  there  were  who  buried  or  burned  the 
regimental  standards.  In  the  Place  Turenne  an  old  sergeant 
climbed  upon  a  gate-post  and  harangued  the  throng  as  if  he 
had  suddenly  taken  leave  of  his  senses,  reviling  the  leaders, 
stigmatizing  them  as  poltroons  and  cowards.  Others  seemed 
as  if  dazed,  shedding  big  tears  in  silence,  and  others  also,  it 
must  be  confessed  (and  it  is  probable  that  they  were  in  the 
majority),  betrayed  by  their  laughing  eyes  and  pleased  expres- 
sion the  satisfaction  they  felt  at  the  change  in  affairs.  There 
was  an  end  to  their  suffering  at  last;  they  were  prisoners  of 
war,  they  could  not  be  obliged  to  fight  any  more!  For  so 
many  days  they  had  been  distressed  by  those  long,  weary 
marches,  with  never  food  enough  to  satisfy  their  appetite! 
And  then,  too,  they  were  the  weaker;  what  use  was  there  in 
fighting?  If  their  chiefs  had  betrayed  them,  had  sold  them  to 
the  enemy,  so  much  the  better;  it  would  be  the  sooner  ended! 
It  was  such  a  delicious  thing  to  think  of,  that  they  were  to 
have  white  bread  to  eat,  were  to  sleep  between  sheets ! 

As  Delaherche  was  about  to  enter  the  dining  room  in  com- 
pany with  Maurice  and  Jean,  his  mother  called  to  him  from 
above. 

"Come  up  here,  please;   I  am  anxious  about  the  colonel." 

M.  de  Vineuil,  with  wide-open  eyes,  was  talking  rapidly 
and  excitedly  of  the  subject  that  filled  his  bewildered  brain. 

"The  Prussians  have  cut  us  off  from  Mezieres,  but  what  mat- 
ters it!  See,  they  have  outmarched  us  and  got  possession  of 
the  plain  of  Donchery;  soon  they  will  be  up  with  the  wood  of 
la  Falizette  and  flank  us  there,  while  more  of  them  are  coming 
up  along  the  valley  of  the  Givonne.  The  frontier  is  behind 
us;  let  us  kill  as  many  of  them  as  we  can  and  cross  it  at  a 
bound.  Yesterday,  yes,  that  is  what  I  would  have  ad- 
vised  " 

At  that  moment  his  burning  eyes  lighted  on  Delaherche. 
He  recognized  him;  the  sight  seemed  to  sober  him  and  dispel 


35 6  THE  DOWNFALL. 

the  hallucination  under  which  he  was  laboring,  and  coming 
back  to  the  terrible  reality,  he  asked  for  the  third  time: 

"It  is  all  over,  is  it  not?" 

The  manufacturer  explosively  blurted  out  the  expression  of 
his  satisfaction ;  he  could  not  restrain  it. 

"Ah,  yes,  God  be  praised!  it  is  all  over,  completely  over. 
The  capitulation  must  be  signed  by  this  time." 

The  colonel  raised  himself  at  a  bound  to  a  sitting  posture, 
notwithstanding  his  bandaged  foot;  he  took  his  sword  from 
the  chair  by  the  bedside  where  it  lay  and  made  an  attempt  to 
break  it,  but  his  hands  trembled  too  violently,  and  the  blade 
slipped  from  his  fingers. 

"Look  out!  he  will  cut  himself!"  Delaherche  cried  in 
alarm.  "Take  that  thing  away  from  him;  it  is  dangerous!" 

Mme.  Delaherche  took  possession  of  the  sword.  With  a 
feeling  of  compassionate  respect  for  the  poor  colonel's  grief 
and  despair  she  did  not  conceal  it,  as  her  son  bade  her  do,  but 
with  a  single  vigorous  effort  snapped  it  across  her  knee,  with  a 
strength  of  which  she  herself  would  never  have  supposed  her 
poor  old  hands  capable.  The  colonel  laid  himself  down 
again,  casting  a  look  of  extreme  gentleness  upon  his  old 
friend,  who  went  back  to  her  chair  and  seated  herself  in  her 
usual  rigid  attitude. 

In  the  dining  room  the  cook  had  meantime  served  bowls  of 
hot  coffee  and  milk  for  the  entire  party.  Henriette  and  Gil- 
berte  had  awakened,  the  latter,  completely  restored  by  her  long 
and  refreshing  slumber,  with  bright  eyes  and  smiling  face;  she 
embraced  most  tenderly  her  friend,  whom  she  pitied,  she  said, 
from  the  bottom  of  her  heart.  Maurice  seated  himself  beside 
his  sister,  while  Jean,  who  was  unused  to  polite  society,  but 
could  not  decline  the  invitation  that  was  extended  to  him,  was 
Delaherche's  right-hand  neighbor.  It  was  Mme.  Delaherche's 
custom  not  to  come  to  the  table  with  the  family;  a  servant 
carried  her  a  bowl,  which  she  drank  while  sitting  by  the  colo- 
nel. The  party  of  five,  however,  who  sat  down  together, 
although  they  commenced  their  meal  in  silence,  soon  became 
cheerful  and  talkative.  Why  should  they  not  rejoice  and  be 
glad  to  find  themselves  there,  safe  and  sound,  with  food  before 
them  to  satisfy  their  hunger,  when  the  country  round  about 
was  covered  with  thousands  upon  thousands  of  poor  starving 
wretches?  In  the  cool,  spacious  dining  room  the  snow-white 
tablecloth  was  a  delight  to  the  eye  and  the  steaming  cafe  au  lait 
seemed  delicious. 

They  conversed.     Delaherche,  who  had  recovered  his  assur- 


THE  DOWNFALL.  357 

ance  and  was  again  the  wealthy  manufacturer,  the  conde- 
scending patron  courting  popularity,  severe  only  toward  those 
who  failed  to  succeed,  spoke  of  Naooleon  III.,  whose  face  as 
he  saw  it  last  continued  to  haunt  his  memory.  He  addressed 
himself  to  Jean,  having  that  simple-minded  young  man  as  his 
neighbor.  "Yes,  sir,  the  Emperor  has  deceived  me,  and  I 
don't  hesitate  to  say  so.  His  henchmen  may  put  in  the  plea 
of  mitigating  circumstances,  but  it  won't  go  down,  sir;  he  is 
evidently  the  first,  the  only  cause  of  our  misfortunes." 

'He  had  quite  forgotten  that  only  a  few  months  before  he 
had  been  an  ardent  Bonapartist  and  had  labored  to  ensure  the 
success  of  the  plebiscite,  and  now  he  who  was  henceforth  to 
be  known  as  the  Man  of  Sedan  was  not  even  worthy  to  be 
pitied ;  he  ascribed  to  him  every  known  iniquity. 

"A  man  of  no  capacity,  as  everyone  is  now  compelled  to 
admit;  but  let  that  pass,  I  say  nothing  of  that.  A  visionary, 
a  theorist,  an  unbalanced  mind,  with  whom  affairs  seemed  to 
succeed  as  long  as  he  had  luck  on  his  side.  And  there's  no 
use,  don't  you  see,  sir,  in  attempting  to  work  on  our  sympa- 
thies and  excite  our  commiseration  by  telling  us  that  he  was 
deceived,  that  the  opposition  refused  him  the  necessary  grants 
of  men  and  money.  It  is  he  who  has  deceived  us,  he  whose 
crimes  and  blunders  have  landed  us  in  the  horrible  muddle 
where  we  are." 

Maurice,  who  preferred  to  say  nothing  on  the  subject,  could 
not  help  smiling,  while  Jean,  embarrassed  by  the  political  turn 
the  conversation  had  taken  and  fearful  lest  he  might  make 
some  ill-timed  remark,  simply  replied: 

"They  say  he  is  a  brave  man,  though." 

But  those  few  words,  modestly  expressed,  fairly  made  Dela- 
herche  jump.  All  his  past  fear  and  alarm,  all  the  mental 
anguish  he  had  suffered,  burst  from  his  lips  in  a  cry  of  con- 
centrated passion,  closely  allied  to  hatred. 

"A  brave  man,  forsooth;  and  what  does  that  amount  to! 
Are  you  aware,  sir,  that  my  factory  was  struck  three  times  by 
Prussian  shells,  and  that  it  is  no  fault  of  the  Emperor's  that  it 
was  not  burned!  Are  you  aware  that  I,  I  shall  lose  a  hundred 
thousand  francs  by  this  idiotic  business!  No,  no;  France 
invaded,  pillaged,  and  laid  waste,  our  industries  compelled  to 
shut  down,  our  commerce  ruined;  it  is  a  little  too  much,  I  tell 
you!  One  brave  man  like  that  is  quite  sufficient;  may  the 
Lord  preserve  us  from  any  more  of  them!  He  is  down  in  the 
blood  and  mire,  and  there  let  him  remain!" 

And  he  made  a  forcible  gesture  with  his  closed  fist  as   if 


35 8  THE  DOWNFALL, 

thrusting  down  and  holding  under  the  water  some  poor  wretch 
who  was  struggling  to  save  himself,  then  finished  his  coffee, 
smacking  his  lips  like  a  true  gourmand.  Gilberte  waited  on 
Henriette  as  if  she  had  been  a  child,  laughing  a  little  involun- 
tary laugh  when  the  latter  made  some  exhibition  of  absent- 
mindedness.  And  when  at  last  the  coffee  had  all  been  drunk 
they  still  lingered  on  in  the  peaceful  quiet  of  the  great  cool 
dining  room. 

And  at  that  same  hour  Napoleon  III.  was  in  the  weaver's 
lowly  cottage  on  the  Donchery  road.  As  early  as  five  o'clock 
in  the  morning  he  had  insisted  on  leaving  the  Sous-Prefecture ; 
he  felt  ill  at  ease  in  Sedan,  which  was  at  once  a  menace  and  a 
reproach  to  him,  and  moreover  he  thought  he  might,  in  some 
measure,  alleviate  the  sufferings  of  his  tender  heart  by  obtain- 
ing more  favorable  terms  for  his  unfortunate  army.  His 
object  was  to  have  a  personal  interview  with  the  King  of  Prus- 
sia. He  had  taken  his  place  in  a  hired  caleche  and  been 
driven  along  the  broad  highway,  with  its  row  of  lofty  poplars 
on  either  side,  and  this  first  stage  of  his  journey  into  exile, 
accomplished  in  the  chill  air  of  early  dawn,  must  have  reminded 
him  forcibly  of  the  grandeur  that  had  been  his  and  that  he  was 
putting  behind  him  forever.  It  was  on  this  road  that  he  had 
his  encounter  with  Bismarck,  who  came  hurrying  to  meet  him 
in  an  old  cap  and  coarse,  greased  boots,  with  the  sole  object 
of  keeping  him  occupied  and  preventing  him  from  seeing  the 
King  until  the  capitulation  should  have  been  signed.  The 
King  was  still  at  Vendresse,  some  nine  miles  away.  Where 
was  he  to  go?  What  roof  would  afford  him  shelter  while  he 
waited?  In  his  own  country,  so  far  away,  the  Palace  of  the 
Tuileries  had  disappeared  from  his  sight,  swallowed  up  in  the 
bosom  of  a  storm-cloud,  and  he  was  never  to  see  it  more. 
Sedan  seemed  already  to  have  receded  into  the  distance,  leagues 
and  leagues,  and  to  be  parted  from  him  by  a  river  of  blood.  In 
France  there  were  no  longer  imperial  chateaus,  nor  official  resi- 
dences, nor  even  a  chimney-nook  in  the  house  of  the  humblest 
functionary,  where  he  would  have  dared  to  enter  and  claim  hos- 
pitality. And  it  was  in  the  house  of  the  weaver  that  he  deter- 
mined to  seek  shelter,  the  squalid  cottage  that  stood  close  to 
the  roadside,  with  its  scanty  kitchen-garden  inclosed  by  a  hedge 
and  its  front  of  a  single  story  with  little  forbidding  windows. 
The  room  above-stairs  was  simply  whitewashed  and  had  a  tiled 
floor;  the  only  furniture  was  a  common  pine  table  and  two 
straw-bottomed  chairs.  He  spent  two  hours  there,  at  first 


THE  DOWNFALL.  359 

in  company  with  Bismarck,  who  smiled  to  hear  him  speak  of 
generosity,  after  that  alone  in  silent  misery,  flattening  his  ashy 
face  against  the  panes,  taking  his  last  look  at  French  soil  and 
at  the  Meuse,  winding  in  and  out,  so  beautiful,  among  the 
broad  fertile  fields. 

Then  the  next  day  and  the  days  that  came  after  were  other 
wretched  stages  of  that  journey;  the  Chateau  of  Belle vue,  a 
pretty  bourgeois  retreat  overlooking  the  river,  where  he  rested 
that  night,  where  he  shed  tears  after  his  interview  with  King 
William ;  the  sorrowful  departure,  that  most  miserable  flight 
in  a  hired  caleche  over  remote  roads  to  the  north  of  the  city, 
which  he  avoided,  not  caring  to  face  the  wrath  of  the  van- 
quished troops  and  the  starving  citizens,  making  a  wide  circuit 
over  cross-roads  by  Floing,  Fleigneux,  and  Illy  and  crossing 
the  stream  on  a  bridge  of  boats,  laid  down  by  the  Prussians  at 
Iges;  the  tragic  encounter,  the  story  of  which  has  been  so 
often  told,  that  occurred  on  the  corpse-cumbered  plateau  of 
Illy:  the  miserable  Emperor,  whose  state  was  such  that  his 
horse  could  not  be  allowed  to  trot,  had  sunk  under  some  more 
than  usually  violent  attack  of  his  complaint,  mechanically 
smoking,  perhaps,  his  everlasting  cigarette,  when  a  band  of 
haggard,  dusty,  blood-stained  prisoners,  who  were  being  con- 
ducted from  Fleigneux  to  Sedan,  were  forced  to  leave  the  road 
to  let  the  carriage  pass  and  stood  watching  it  from  the  ditch; 
those  who  were  at  the  head  of  the  line  merely  eyed  him  in 
silence ;  presently  a  hoarse,  sullen  murmur  began  to  make  itself 
heard,  and  finally,  as  the  caleche  proceeded  down  the  line,  the 
men  burst  out  with  a  storm  of  yells  and  cat-calls,  shaking  their 
fists  and  calling  down  maledictions  on  the  head  of  him  who 
had  been  their  ruler.  After  that  came  the  interminable  jour- 
ney across  the  battlefield,  as  far  as  Givonne,  amid  scenes  of 
havoc  and  devastation,  amid  the  dead,  who  lay  with  staring 
eyes  upturned  that  seemed  to  be  full  of  menace;  came,  too, 
the  bare,  dreary  fields,  the  great  silent  forest,  then  the  fron- 
tier, running  along  the  summit  of  a  ridge,  marked  only  by  a 
stone,  facing  a  wooden  post  that  seemed  ready  to  fall,  and 
beyond  the  soil  of  Belgium,  the  end  of  all,  with  its  road  bor- 
dered with  gloomy  hemlocks  descending  sharply  into  the  nar- 
row valley. 

And  that  first  night  of  exile,  that  he  spent  at  a  common  inn, 
the  Hotel  de  la  Poste  at  Bouillon,  what  a  night  it  was !  When 
the  Emperor  showed  himself  at  his  window  in  deference  to  the 
throng  of  French  refugees  and  sight-seers  that  filled  the  place, 


360  THE  DOWNFALL. 

he  was  greeted  with  a  storm  of  hisses  and  hostile  murmurs. 
The  apartment  assigned  him,  the  three  windows  of  which 
opened  on  the  public  square  and  on  the  Semoy,  was  the  typi- 
cal tawdry  bedroom  of  the  provincial  inn  with  its  conventional 
furnishings:  the  chairs  covered  with  crimson  damask,  the 
mahogany  armoireh glace, and  on  the  mantel  the  imitation  bronze 
clock,  flanked  by  a  pair  of  conch  shells  and  vases  of  artificial 
flowers  under  glass  covers.  On  either  side  of  the  door  was  a 
little  single  bed,  to  one  of  which  the  wearied  aide-de-camp  be- 
took himself  at  nine  o'clock  and  was  immediately  wrapped  in 
soundest  slumber.  On  the  other  the  Emperor,  to  whom  the 
god  of  sleep  was  less  benignant,  tossed  almost  the  whole 
night  through,  and  if  he  arose  to  try  to  quiet  his  excited  nerves 
by  walking,  the  sole  distraction  that  his  eyes  encountered  was 
a  pair  of  engravings  that  were  hung  to  right  and  left  of  the 
chimney,  one  depicting  Rouget  de  Lisle  singing  the  Marseil- 
laise, the  other  a  crude  representation  of  the  Last  Judgment, 
the  dead  rising  from  their  graves  at  the  sound  of  the  Arch- 
angel's trump,  the  resurrection  of  the  victims  of  the  battlefield, 
about  to  appear  before  their  God  to  bear  witness  against  their 
rulers. 

The  imperial  baggage  train,  cause  in  its  day  of  so  much 
scandal,  had  been  left  behind  at  Sedan,  where  it  rested  in 
ignominious  hiding  behind  the  Sous-Prefet's  lilac  bushes.  It 
puzzled  the  authorities  somewhat  to  devise  means  for  ridding 
themselves  of  what  was  to  them  a  btte  noire,  for  getting  it  away 
from  the  city  unseen  by  the  famishing  multitude,  upon  whom 
the  sight  of  its  flaunting  splendor  would  have  produced  much 
the  same  effect  that  a  red  rag  does  on  a  maddened  bull.  They 
waited  until  there  came  an  unusually  dark  night,  when  horses, 
carriages,  and  baggage-wagons,  with  their  silver  stew-pans, 
plate,  linen,  and  baskets  of  fine  wines,  all  trooped  out  of  Sedan 
in  deepest  mystery  and  shaped  their  course  for  Belgium,  noise- 
lessly, without  beat  of  drum,  over  the  least  frequented  roads, 
like  a  thief  stealing  away  in  the  night. 


PART  THIRD. 


ALL  the  long,  long  day  of  the  battle  Silvine,  up  on  Remilly 
hill,  where  Father  Fouchard's  little  farm  was  situated,  but 
her  heart  and  soul  absent  with  Honore  amid  the  dangers  of 
the  conflict,  never  once  took  her  eyes  from  off  Sedan,  where 
the  guns  were  roaring.  The  following  day,  moreover,  her 
anxiety  was  even  greater  still,  being  increased  by  her  inability 
to  obtain  any  definite  tidings,  -for  the  Prussians  who  were 
guarding  the  roads  in  the  vicinity  refused  to  answer  questions, 
as  much  from  reasons  of  policy  as  because  they  knew  but  very 
little  themselves.  The  bright  sun  of  the  day  before  was  no 
longer  visible,  and  showers  had  fallen,  making  the  valley  look 
less  cheerful  than  usual  in  the  wan  light. 

Toward  evening  Father  Fouchard,  who  was  also  haunted  by 
a  sensation  of  uneasiness  in  the  midst  of  his  studied  taciturn- 
ity, was  standing  on  his  doorstep  reflecting  on  the  probable" 
outcome  of  events.  His  son  had  no  place  in  his  thoughts,  but 
he  was  speculating  how  he  best  might  convert  the  misfortunes 
of  others  into  fortune  for  himself,  and  as  he  revolved  these 
considerations  in  his  mind  he  noticed  a  tall,  strapping  young 
fellow,  dressed  in  the  peasant's  blouse,  who  had  been  strolling 
up  and  down  the  road  for  the  last  minute  or  so,  looking  as  if 
he  did  not  know  what  to  do  with  himself.  His  astonishment 
on  recognizing  him  was  so  great  that  he  called  him  aloud  by 
name,  notwithstanding  that  three  Prussians  happened  to  be 
passing  at  the  time. 

"Why,  Prosper!      Is  that  you?" 

The  chasseur  d'Afrique  imposed  silence  on  him  with  an 
emphatic  gesture;  then,  coming  closer,  he  said  in  an  under- 
tone: 

"Yes,  it  is  I.  I  have  had  enough  of  fighting  for  nothing, 
and  I  cut  my  lucky.  Say,  Father  Fouchard,  you  don't  hap- 
pen to  be  in  need  of  a  laborer  on  your  farm,  do  you?" 

All  the  old  man's  prudence  came  back  to  him  in  a  twink- 


32  THE  DOWNFALL. 

ling.  He  was  looking  for  someone  to  help  him,  but  it  would 
be  better  not  to  say  so  at  once. 

"A  lad  on  the  farm?  faith,  no — not  just  now.  Come  in, 
though,  all  the  same,  and  have  a  glass.  I  shan't  leave  you 
out  on  the  road  when  you're  in  trouble,  that's  sure." 

Silvine,  in  the  kitchen,  was  setting  the  pot  of  soup  on  the 
fire,  while  little  Chariot  was  hanging  by  her  skirts,  frolicking 
and  laughing.  She  did  not  recognize  Prosper  at  first,  although 
they  had  formerly  served  together  in  the  same  household,  and 
it  was  not  until  she  came  in,  bringing  a  bottle  of  wine  and  two 
glasses,  that  she  looked  him  squarely  in  the  face.  She  uttered 
aery  of  joy  and  surprise;  her  sole  thought  was  of  Honore. 

"Ah,  you  were  there,  weren't  you?     Is  Honore  all  right?" 

Prosper's  answer  was  ready  to  slip  from  his  tongue;  he  hesi- 
tated. For  the  last  two  days  he  had  been  living  in  a  dream, 
among  a  rapid  succession  of  strange,  ill-defined  events  which 
left  behind  them  no  precise  memory,  as  a  man  starts,  half- 
awakened,  from  a  slumber  peopled  with  fantastic  visions.  It 
was  true,  doubtless,  he  believed  he  had  seen  Honore  lying 
upon  a  cannon,  dead,  but  he  would  not  have  cared  to  swear  to 
it;  what  use  is  there  in  afflicting  people  when  one  is  not 
certain? 

"Honore,"  he  murmured,  "I  don't  know,  I  couldn't  say." 

She  continued  to  press  him  with  her  questions,  looking  at 
him  steadily. 

"You  did  not  see  him,  then?" 

He  waved  his  hands  before  him  with  a  slow,  uncertain 
motion  and  an  expressive  shake  of  the  head. 

"How  can  you  expect  one  to  remember!  There  were  such 
lots  of  things,  such  lots  of  things.  Look  you,  of  all  that 

d d  battle,  if  I  was  to  die  for  it  this  minute,  I  could  not 

tell  you  that  much — no,  not  even  the  place  where  I  was.  I 
believe  men  get  to  be  no  better  than  idiots,  'pon  my  word  I 
do!"  And  tossing  off  a  glass  of  wine,  he  sat  gloomily  silent, 
his  vacant  eyes  turned  inward  on  the  dark  recesses  of  his  mem- 
ory. "All  that  I  remember  is  that  it  was  beginning  to  be  dark 
when  I  recovered  consciousness.  I  went  down  while  we  were 
charging,  and  then  the  sun  was  very  high.  I  must  have  been 
lying  there  for  hours,  my  right  leg  caught  under  poor  old 
Zephyr,  who  had  received  a  piece  of  shell  in  the  middle  of  his 
chest.  There  was  nothing  to  laugh  at  in  my  position,  I  can 
tell  you;  the  dead  comrades  lying  around  me  in  piles,  not  a 
living  soul  in  sight,  and  the  certainty  that  I  should  have  to 


THE  DOWNFALL.  363 

kick  the  bucket  too  unless  someone  came  to  put  me  on  my 
legs  again.  Gently,  gently,  I  tried  to  free  my  leg,  but  it  was 
no  use;  Zephyr's  weight  must  have  been  fully  up  to  that  of 
the  five  hundred  thousand  devils.  He  was  warm  still.  I 
patted  him,  I  spoke  to  him,  saying  all  the  pretty  things  I  could 
think  of,  and  here's  a  thing,  do  you  see,  that  I  shall  never 
forget  as  long  as  I  live:  he  opened  his  eyes  and  made  an  effort 
to  raise  his  poor  old  head,  which  was  resting  on  the  ground 
beside  my  own.  Then  we  had  a  talk  together:  'Poor  old 
fellow,'  says  I,  'I  don't  want  to  say  a  word  to  hurt  your  feel- 
ings, but  you  must  want  to  see  me  croak  with  you,  you 
hold  me  down  so  hard.'  Of  course  he  didn't  say  he  did; 
he  couldn't,  but  for  all  that  I  could  read  in  his  great  sorrow- 
ful eyes  how  bad  he  felt  to  have  to  part  with  me.  And  I  can't 
say  how  the  thing  happened,  whether  he  intended  it  or  whether 
it  was  part  of  the  death  struggle,  but  all  at  once  he  gave  him- 
self a  great  shake  that  sent  him  rolling  away  to  one  side.  I 
was  enabled  to  get  on  my  feet  once  more,  but  ah!  in  what  a 
pickle;  my  leg  was  swollen  and  heavy  as  a  leg  of  lead.  Never 
mind,  I  took  Zephyr's  head  in  my  arms  and  kept  on  talking  to 
him,  telling  him  all  the  kind  thoughts  I  had  in  my  heart, 
that  he  was  a  good  horse,  that  I  loved  him  dearly,  that  I 
should  never  forget  him.  He  listened  to  me,  he  seemed  to  be 
so  pleased!  Then  he  had  another  long  convulsion,  and  so  he 
died,  with  his  big  vacant  eyes  fixed  on  me  till  the  last.  It  is 
very  strange,  though,  and  I  don't  suppose  anyone  will  believe 
me;  still,  it  is  the  simple  truth  that  great,  big  tears  were  stand- 
ing in  his  eyes.  Poor  old  Zephyr,  he  cried  just  like  a 

man " 

At  this  point  Prosper's  emotion  got  the  better  of  him;  tears 
choked  his  utterance  and  he  was  obliged  to  break  off.  He 
gulped  down  another  glass  of  wine  and  went  on  with  his  nar- 
rative in  disjointed,  incomplete  sentences.  It  kept  growing 
darker  and  darker,  until  there  was  only  a  narrow  streak  of  red 
light  on  the  horizon  at  the  verge  of  the  battlefield ;  the  shad- 
ows of  the  dead  horses  seemed  to  be  projected  across  the  plain 
to  an  infinite  distance.  The  pain  and  stiffness  in  his  leg  kept 
him  from  moving;  he  must  have  remained  for  a  long  time 
beside  Zephyr.  Then,  with  his  fears  as  an  incentive,  he  had 
managed  to  get  on  his  feet  and  hobble  away;  it  was  an  imper- 
ative necessity  to  him  not  to  be  alone,  to  find  comrades  who 
would  share  his  fears  with  him  and  make  them  less.  Thus 
from  every  nook  and  corner  of  the  battlefield,  from  hedges 


3^4  TH&   DOWNFALL 

and  ditches  and  clumps  of  bushes,  the  wounded  who  had  been 
left  behind  dragged  themselves  painfully  in  search  of  compan- 
ionship, forming  when  possible  little  bands  of  four  or  five, 
rinding  it  less  hard  to  agonize  and  die  in  the  company  of  their 
fellow-beings.  In  the  wood  of  la  Garenne  Prosper  fell  in  with 
two  men  of  the  43d  regiment;  they  were  not  wounded,  but 
had  burrowed  in  the  underbrush  like  rabbits,  waiting  for  the 
coming  of  the  night.  When  they  learned  that  he  was  familiar 
with  the  roads  they  communicated  to  him  their  plan,  which 
was  to  traverse  the  woods  under  cover  of  the  darkness  and 
make  their  escape  into  Belgium.  At  first  he  declined  to  share 
their  undertaking,  for  he  would  have  preferred  to  proceed 
direct  to  Remilly,  where  he  was  certain  to  find  a  refuge,  but 
where  was  he  to  obtain  the  blonse  and  trousers  that  he 
required  as  a  disguise?  to  say  nothing  of  the  impracticability 
of  getting  past  the  numerous  Prussian  pickets  and  outposts 
that  filled  the  valley  all  the  way  from  la  Garenne  to  Remilly. 
He  therefore  ended  by  consenting  to  act  as  guide  to  the  twr 
comrades.  His  leg  was  less  stiff  than  it  had  been,  and  the\ 
were  so  fortunate  as  to  secure  a  loaf  of  bread  at  a  farmhouse. 
Nine  o'clock  was  striking  from  the  church  of  a  village  in  the 
distance  as  they  resumed  their  way.  Thr  onty  point  where 
they  encountered  any  danger  worth  mentioning  was  at  ]s 
Chapelle,  where  they  fell  directly  into  the  midst  of  a  Prussian 
advanced  post  before  they  were  aware  of  it ;  the  enemy  flew  to 
arms  and  blazed  away  into  the  darkness,  while  they,  throwing 
themselves  on  the  ground  and  alternately  crawling  and  running 
until  the  fire  slackened,  ultimately  regained  the  shelter  of  the 
trees.  After  that  they  kept  to  the  woods,  observing  the 
utmost  vigilance.  At  a  bend  in  the  road  they  crept  up  behind 
an  out-lying  picket  and,  leaping  on  his  back,  buried  a  knife  in 
his  throat.  Then  the  road  was  free  before  them  and  they  no 
longer  had  to  observe  precaution ;  they  went  ahead,  laughing 
and  whistling.  It  was  about  three  in  the  morning  when  they 
reached  a  little  Belgian  village,  where  they  knocked  up  9 
worthy  fanner,  who  at  once  opened  his  barn  to  them ;  they 
snuggled  among  the  hay  and  slept  soundly  until  morning. 

The  sun  was  high  in  the  heavens  when  Prosper  awoke.  As 
he  opened  his  eyes  and  looked  about  him,  while  the  two  com- 
rades were  still  snoring,  he  beheld  their  entertainer  engaged  in 
hitching  a  horse  to  a  great  carriole  loaded  with  bread,  rice, 
coffee,  sugar,  and  all  sorts  of  eatables,  the  whole  concealed 
under  sacks  of  charcoal,  and  a  little  questioning  elicited  from 


THE  DOWNFALL.  36$ 

the  good  man  the  fact  that  he  had  two  married  daughters  liv- 
ing at  Raucourt,  in  France,  whom  the  passage  of  the  Bavarian 
troops  had  left  entirely  destitute,  and  that  the  provisions  in 
the  carriole  were  intended  for  them.  He  had  procured  that 
very  morning  the  safe-conduct  that  was  required  for  the  jour- 
ney. Prosper  was  immediately  seized  by  an  uncontrollable 
desire  to  take  a  seat  in  that  carriole  and  return  to  the  country 
that  he  loved  so  and  for  which  his  heart  was  yearning  with 
such  a  violent  nostalgia.  It  was  perfectly  simple;  the  farmer 
would  have  to  pass  through  Remilly  to  reach  Raucourt;  he 
would  alight  there.  The  matter  was  arranged  in  three  min- 
utes; he  obtained  a  loan  of  the  longed-for  blouse  and  trousers, 
and  the  farmer  gave  out,  wherever  they  stopped,  that  he  was 
his  servant;  so  that  about  six  o'clock  he  got  down  in  front  of 
the  church,  not  having  been  stopped  more  than  two  or  three 
times  by  the  German  outposts. 

They  were  all  silent  for  a  while,  then:  "No,  I  had  enough 
of  it!"  said  Prosper.  "If  they  had  but  set  us  at  work  that 
amounted  to  something,  as  out  there  in  Africa!  but  this  going 
up  the  hill  only  to  come  down  again,  the  feeling  that  one  is  of 
no  earthly  use  to  anyone,  that  is  no  kind  of  a  life  at  all.  And 
then  I  should  be  lonely,  now  that  poor  Zephyr  is.  dead;  all 
that  is  left  me  to  do  is  to  go  to  work  on  a  farm.  That  will  be 
better  than  living  among  the  Prussians  as  a  prisoner,  don't  you 
think  so?  You  have  horses,  Father  Fouchard;  try  me,  and 
see  whether  or  not  I  will  love  them  and  take  good  care  of  them. ' ' 

The  old  fellow's  eyes  gleamed,  but  he  touched  glasses  once 
more  with  the  other  and  concluded  the  arrangement  without 
any  evidence  of  eagerness. 

"Very  well;  I  wish  to  be  of  service  to  you  as  far  as  lies  in 
my  power;  I  will  take  you.  As  regards  the  question  of  wages, 
though,  you  must  not  speak  of  it  until  the  war  is  over,  for 
really  I  am  not  in  need  of  anyone  and  the  times  are  too  hard. 

Silvine,  who  had  remained  seated  with  Chariot  on  her  lap, 
had  never  once  taken  her  eyes  from  Prosper 's  face.  When 
she  saw  him  rise  with  the  intention  of  going  to  the  stable  and 
making  immediate  acquaintance  with  its  four-footed  inhabi- 
tants, she  again  asked: 

"Then  you  say  you  did  not  see  Honored" 

The  question  repeated  thus  abruptly  made  him  start,  as  if  it 
had  suddenly  cast  a  flood  of  light  in  upon  an  obscure  corner 
of  his  memory.  He  hesitated  for  a  little,  but  finally  came  to 
a  decision  and  spoke. 


366  THE  DOWNFALL. 

"See  here,  I  did  not  wish  to  grieve  you  just  now,  but  I 
don't  believe  Honore"  will  ever  come  back." 

"Never  come  back — what  do  you  mean?" 

"Yes,  I  believe  that  the  Prussians  did  his  business  for  him. 
I  saw  him  lying  across  his  gun,  his  head  erect,  with  a  great 
wound  just  beneath  the  heart." 

There  was  silence  in  the  room.  Silvine's  pallor  was  frightful 
to  behold,  while  Father  Fouchard  displayed  his  interest  in  the 
narrative  by  replacing  upon  the  table  his  glass,  into  which  he 
had  just  poured  what  wine  remained  in  the  bottle. 

"Are  you  quite  certain?"  she  asked  in  a  choking  voice. 

"Dame!  as  certain  as  one  can  be  of  a  thing  he  has  seen 
with  his  own  two  eyes.  It  was  on  a  little  hillock,  with  three 
trees  in  a  group  right  beside  it;  it  seems  to  me  I  could  go  to 
the  spot  blindfolded." 

If  it  was  true  she  had  nothing  left  to  live  for.  That  lad 
who  had  been  so  good  to  her,  who  had  forgiven  her  her  fault, 
had  plighted  his  troth  and  was  to  marry  her  when  he  came 
home  at  the  end  of  the  campaign!  and  they  had  robbed  her  of 
him,  they  had  murdered  him,  and  he  was  lying  out  there  on 
the  battlefield  with  a  wound  under  the  heart!  She  had  never 
known  how  strong  her  love  for  him  had  been,  and  now  the 
thought  that  she  was  to  see  him  no  more,  that  he  who  was  hers 
was  hers  no  longer,  aroused  her  almost  to  a  pitch  of  madness 
and  made  her  forget  her  usual  tranquil  resignation.  She  set 
Chariot  roughly  down  upon  the  floor,  exclaiming: 

"Good!  I  shall  not  believe  that  story  until  I  see. the  evi- 
dence of  it,  until  I  see  it  with  my  own  eyes.  Since  you  know 
the  spot  you  shall  conduct  me  to  it.  And  if  it  is  true,  if  we 
find  him,  we  will  bring  him  home  with  us." 

Her  tears  allowed  her  to  say  no  more;  she  bowed  her  head 
upon  the  table,  her  frame  convulsed  by  long-drawn,  tumultu- 
ous sobs  that  shook  her  from  head  to  foot,  while  the  child,  not 
knowing  what  to  make  of  such  unusual  treatment  at  his  moth- 
er's hands,  also  commenced  to  weep  violently.  She  caught 
him  up  and  pressed  him  to 'her  heart,  with  distracted,  stam- 
mering words: 

"My  poor  child!  my  poor  child!" 

Consternation  was  depicted  on  old  Fouchard's  face. 
Appearances  notwithstanding,  he  did  love  his  son,  after  a 
fashion  of  his  own.  Memories  of  the  past  came  back  to  him, 
of  days  long  vanished,  when  his  wife  was  still  living  and 
Honore"  was  a  boy  at  school,  and  two  big  tears  appeared  in  his 


THE   DOWNFALL.  367 

small  red  eyes  and  trickled  down  his  old  leathery  cheeks.  He 
had  not  wept  before  in  more  than  ten  years.  In  the  end  he 
grew  angry  at  the  thought  of  that  son  who  was  his  and  upon 
whom  he  was  never  to  set  eyes  again ;  he  rapped  out  an  oath 
or  two. 

" Nom  de  Dieu  !  it  is  provoking  all  the  same,  to  have  only 
one  boy,  and  that  he  should  be  taken  from  you!" 

When  their  agitation  had  in  a  measure  subsided,  however, 
Fouchard.  was  annoyed  that  Silvine  still  continued  to  talk  of 
going  to  search  for  Honore's  body  out  there  on  the  battlefield. 
She  made  no  further  noisy  demonstration,  but  harbored  her 
purpose  with  the  dogged  silence  of  despair,  and  he  failed  to 
recognize  in  her  the  docile,  obedient  servant  who  was  wont  to 
perform  her  daily  tasks  without  a  murmur;  her  great,  submis- 
sive eyes,  in  which  lay  the  chief  beauty  of  her  face,  had 
assumed  an  expression  of  stern  determination,  while  beneath 
her  thick  brown  hair  her  cheeks  and  brow  wore  a  pallor  that 
was  like  death.  She  had  torn  off  the  red  kerchief  that  was 
knotted  about  her  neck,  and  was  entirely  in  black,  like  a 
widow  in  her  weeds.  It  was  all  in  vain  that  he  tried  to 
impress  on  her  the  difficulties  of  the  undertaking,  the  dangers 
she  would  be  subjected  to,  the  little  hope  there  was  of  recov- 
ering the  corpse;  she  did  not  even  take  the  trouble  to  answer 
him,  and  he  saw  clearly  that  unless  he  seconded  her  in  her 
plan  she  would  start  out  alone  and  do  some  unwise  thing,  and 
this  aspect  of  the  case  worried  him  on  account  of  the  compli- 
cations that  might  arise  between  him  and  the  Prussian  author- 
ities. He  therefore  finally  decided  to  go  and  lay  the  matter 
before  the  mayor  of  Remilly,  who  was  a  kind  of  distant  cousin 
of  his,  and  they  two  between  them  concocted  a  story:  Silvine 
was  to  pass  as  the  actual  widow  of  Honore,  Prosper  became 
her  brother,  so  that  the  Bavarian  colonel,  who  had  his  quarters 
in  the  Hotel  of  the  Maltese  Cross  down  in  the  lower  part  of 
the  village,  made  no  difficulty  about  granting  a  pass  which 
authorized  the  brother  and  sister  to  bring  home  the  body  of 
the  husband,  provided  they  could  find  it.  By  this  time  it  was 
night;  the  only  concession  that  could  be  obtained  from  the 
young  woman  was  that  she  would  delay  starting  on  her  expe- 
dition until  morning. 

When  morning  came  old  Fouchard  could  not  be  prevailed 
on  to  allow  one  of  his  horses  to  be  taken,  fearing  he  might 
never  set  eyes  on  it  again.  What  assurance  had  he  that  the 
Prussians  would  not  confiscate  the  entire  equipage?  At  last 


368  THE  DOWNFALL. 

he  consented,  though  with  very  bad  grace,  to  loan  her  the 
donkey,  a  little  gray  animal,  and  his  cart,  which,  though  small, 
would  be  large  enough  to  hold  a  dead  man.  He  gave  minute 
instructions  to  Prosper,  who  had  had  a  good  night's  sleep,  but 
was  anxious  and  thoughtful  at  the  prospect  of  the  expedition 
now  that,  being  rested  and  refreshed,  he  attempted  to  remem- 
ber something  of  the  battle.  At  the  last  moment  Silvine  went 
and  took  the  counterpane  from  her  own  bed,  folding  and 
spreading  it  on  the  floor  of  the  cart.  Just  as  she  was  about  to 
start  she  came  running  back  to  embrace  Chariot. 

"I  entrust  him  to  your  care,  Father  Fouchard;  keep  an  eye 
on  him  and  see  that  he  doesn't  get  hold  of  the  matches." 

"Yes,  yes;   never  fear  !  " 

They  were  late  in  getting  off;  it  was  near  seven  o'clock 
when  the  little  procession,  the  donkey,  hanging  his  head  and 
drawing  the  narrow  cart,  leading,  descended  the  steep  hill  of 
Remilly.  It  had  rained  heavily  during  the  night,  and  the 
roads  were  become  rivers  of  mud;  great  lowering  clouds  hung 
in  the  heavens,  imparting  an  air  of  cheerless  desolation  to  the 
scene. 

Prosper,  wishing  to  save  all  the  distance  he  could,  had 
Determined  on  'taking  the  route  that  lay  through  the  city  of 
Sedan,  but  before  they  reached  Pont-Maugis  a  Prussian  out- 
post halted  the  cart  and  held  it  for  over  an  hour,  and  finally, 
after  their  pass  had  been  referred,  one  after  another,  to  four 
or  five  officials,  they  were  told  they  might  resume  their  jour- 
ney, but  only  on  condition  of  taking  the  longer,  roundabout 
route  by  way  of  Bazeilles,  to  do  which  they  would  have  to  turn 
into  a  cross-road  on  their  left.  No  reason  was  assigned;  their 
object  was  probably  to  avoid  adding  to  the  crowd  that  encum- 
bered the  streets  of  the  city.  When  Silvine  crossed  the  Meuse 
by  the  railroad  bridge,  that  ill-starred  bridge  that  the  French 
had  failed  to  destroy  and  which,  moreover,  had  been  the  cause 
of  such  slaughter  among  the  Bavarians,  she  beheld  the  corpse 
of  an  artilleryman  floating  lazily  down  with  the  sluggish  cur- 
rent. It  caught  among  some  rushes  near  the  bank,  hung 
there  a  moment,  then  swung  clear  and  started  afresh  on  its 
downward  way. 

Bazeilles,  through  which  they  passed  from  end  to  end  at  a 
slow  walk,  afforded  a  spectacle  of  ruin  and  desolation,  the 
worst  that  war  can  perpetrate  when  it  sweeps  with  devastating 
force,  like  a  cyclone,  through  a  land.  The  dead  had  been 
removed;  there  was  not  a  single  corpse  to  be  seen  in  the  vil- 


THE  DOWNFALL.  3^9 

lage  streets,  and  the  rain  had  washed  away  the  blood ;  pools 
of  reddish  water  were  to  be  seen  here  and  there  in  the  road- 
way, with  repulsive,  frowzy-looking  debris,  matted  masses  that 
one  could  not  help  associating  in  his  mind  with  human  hair. 
But  what  shocked  and  saddened  one  more  than  all  the  rest  was 
the  ruin  that  was  visible  everywhere;  that  charming  village, 
only  three  days  before  so  bright  and  smiling,  with  its  pretty 
houses  standing  in  their  well-kept  gardens,  now  razed,  demol- 
ished, annihilated,  nothing  left  of  all  its  beauties  save  a  few 
smoke-stained  walls.  The  church  was  burning  still,  a  huge 
pyre  of  smoldering  beams  and  girders,  whence  streamed  con- 
tinually upward  a  column  of  dense  black  smoke  that,  spread- 
ing in  the  heavens,  overshadowed  the  city  like  a  gigantic 
funeral  pall.  Entire  streets  had  been  swept  away,  not  a  house 
left  on  either  side,  nor  any  trace  that  houses  had  ever  been 
there,  save  the  calcined  stone-work  lying  in  the  gutter  in  a 
pasty  mess  of  soot  and  ashes,  the  whole  lost  in  the  viscid,  ink- 
black  mud  of  the  thoroughfare.  Where  streets  intersected  the 
corner  houses  were  razed  down  to  their  foundations,  as  if  they 
had  been  carried  away  bodily  by  the  fiery  blast  that  blew  there. 
Others  had  suffered  less;  one  in  particular,  owing  to  some 
chance,  had  escaped  almost  without  injury,  while  its  neighbors 
on  either  hand,  literally  torn  to  pieces  by  the  iron  hail,  were 
like  gaunt  skeletons.  An  unbearable  stench  was  everywhere 
noticeable,  the  nauseating  odor  that  follows  a  great  fire,  aggra^ 
vated  by  the  penetrating  smell  of  petroleum,  that  had  been 
used  without  stint  upon  floors  and  walls.  Then,  too,  there 
was  the  pitiful,  mute  spectacle  of  the  household  goods  that  the 
people  had  endeavored  to  save,  the  poor  furniture  that  had 
been  thrown  from  windows  and  smashed  upon  the  sidewalk, 
crazy  tables  with  broken  legs,  presses  with  cloven  sides  and 
split  doors,  linen,  also,  torn  and  soiled,  that  was  trodden 
under  foot;  all  the  sorry  crumbs,  the  unconsidered  trifles  of 
the  pillage,  of  which  the  destruction  was  being  completed  by 
the  dissolving  rain.  Through  the  breach  in  a  shattered 
house-front  a  clock  was  visible,  securely  fastened  high  up  on 
the  wall  above  the  mantel-shelf,  that  had  miraculously  escaped 
intact. 

"The  beasts!  the  pigs!"  growled  Prosper,  whose  blood, 
though  he  was  no  longer  a  soldier,  ran  hot  at  the  sight  of  such 
atrocities. 

He  doubled  his  fists,  and  Silvine,  who  was  white  as  a  ghost, 
had  to  exert  the  influence  of  her  glance  to  calm  him  every  time 


37°  THE  DOWNFALL. 

they  encountered  a  sentry  on  their  way.  The  Bavarians  had 
posted  sentinels  near  all  the  houses  that  were  still  burning,  and 
it  seemed  as  if  those  men,  with  loaded  muskets  and  fixed 
bayonets,  were  guarding  the  fires  in  order  that  the  flames  might 
finish  their  work.  They  drove  away  the  mere  sightseers  who 
strolled  about  in  the  vicinity,  and  the  persons  who  had  an 
interest  there  as  well,  employing  first  a  menacing  gesture,  and 
in  case  that  was  not  sufficient,  uttering  a  single  brief,  guttural 
word  of  command.  A  young  woman,  her  hair  streaming 
about  her  shoulders,  her  gown  plastered  with  mud,  persisted 
in  hanging  about  the  smoking  ruins  of  a  little  house,  of  which 
she  desired  to  search  the  hot  ashes,  notwithstanding  the  prohi- 
bition of  the  sentry.  The  report  ran  that  the  woman's  little 
baby  had  been  burned  with  the  house.  And  all  at  once,  as 
the  Bavarian  was  roughly  thrusting  her  aside  with  his  heavy 
hand,  she  turned  on  him,  vomiting  in  his  face  all  her  despair 
and  rage,  lashing  him  with  taunts  and  insults  that  were  redo- 
lent of  the  gutter,  with  obscene  words  which  likely  afforded 
her  some  consolation  in  her  grief  and  distress.  He  could  not 
have  understood  her,  for  h^  drew  back  a  pace  or  two,  eying 
her  with  apprehension.  Three  comrades  came  running  up  and 
relieved  him  of  the  fury,  whom  they  led  away  screaming  at  the 
top  of  her  voice.  Before  the  ruins  of  another  house  a  man 
and  two  little  girls,  all  three  so  weary  and  miserable  that  they 
could  not  stand,  lay  on  the  bare  ground,  sobbing  as  if  their 
hearts  would  break ;  they  had  seen  their  little  all  go  up  in  smoke 
and  flame,  and  had  no  place  to  go,  no  place  to  lay  their  head. 
But  just  then  a  patrol  went  by,  dispersing  the  knots  of  idlers, 
and  the  street  again  assumed  its  deserted  aspect,  peopled  only 
by  the  stern,  sullen  sentries,  vigilant  to  see  that  their  iniquitous 
instructions  were  enforced. 

"The  beasts!  the  pigs!"  Prosper  repeated  in  a  stifled  voice. 
"How  I  should  like,  oh!  how  I  should  like  to  kill  a  few  of 
them!" 

Silvine  again  made  him  be  silent.  She  shuddered.  A  dog, 
shut  up  in  a  carriage-house  that  the  flames  had  spared  and  for- 
gotten there  for  the  last  two  days,  kept  up  an  incessant,  con- 
tinuous howling,  in  a  key  so  inexpressibly  mournful  that  a 
brooding  horror  seemed  to  pervade  the  low,  leaden  sky,  from 
which  a  drizzling  rain  had  now  begun  to  fall.  They  were 
then  just  abreast  of  the  park  of  Montivilliers,  and  there  they 
witnessed  a  most  horrible  sight.  Three  great  covered  carts, 
those  carts  that  pass  along  the  streets  in  the  early  morning 


THE  DOWNFALL.  371 

before  it  is  light  and  collect  the  city's  filth  and  garbage,  stood 
there  in  a  row,  loaded  with  corpses;  and  now,  instead  of 
refuse,  they  were  being  filled  with  dead,  stopping  wherever 
there  was  a  body  to  be  loaded,  then  going  on  again  with  the 
heavy  rumbling  of  their  wheels  to  make  another  stop  further 
on,  threading  Bazeilles  in  its  every  nook  and  corner  until  their 
hideous  cargo  overflowed.  They  were  waiting  now  upon  the 
public  road  to  be  driven  to  the  place  of  their  discharge,  the 
neighboring  potter's  field.  Feet  were  seen  projecting  from 
the  mass  into  the  air.  A  head,  half-severed  from  its  trunk, 
hung  over  the  side  of  the  vehicle.  When  the  three  lumbering 
vans  started  again,  swaying  and  jolting  over  the  inequalities  of 
the  road,  a  long,  white  hand  was  hanging  outward  from  one  of 
them ;  the  hand  caught  upon  the  wheel,  and  little  by  little  the 
iron  tire  destroyed  it,  eating  through  skin  and  flesh  clean 
down  to  the  bones. 

By  the  time  they  reached  Balan  the  rain  had  ceased,  and 
Prosper  prevailed  on  Silvine  to  eat  a  bit  of  the  bread  he  had 
had  the  foresight  to  bring  with  them.  When  they  were  near 
Sedan,  however,  they  were  brought  to  a  halt  by  another  Prus- 
sian post,  and  this  time  the  consequences  threatened  to  be 
serious;  the  officer  stormed  at  them,  and  even  refused  to 
restore  their  pass,  which  he  declared,  in  excellent  French,  to 
be  a  forgery.  Acting  on  his  orders  some  soldiers  had  run  the 
donkey  and  the  little  cart  under  a  shed.  What  were  they  to 
do?  were  they  to  be  forced  to  abandon  their  undertaking? 
Silvine  was  in  despair,  when  all  at  once  she  thought  of 
M.  Dubreuil,  Father  Fouchard's  relative,  with  whom  she  had 
some  slight  acquaintance  and  whose  place,  the  Hermitage,  was 
only  a  few  hundred  yards  distant,  on  the  summit  of  the  emi- 
nence that  overlooked  the  faubourg.  Perhaps  he  might  have 
some  influence  with  the  military,  seeing  that  he  was  a  citizen 
of  the  place.  As  they  were  allowed  their  freedom,  condition- 
ally upon  abandoning  their  equipage,  she  left  the  donkey  and 
cart  under  the  shed  and  bade  Prosper  accompany  her.  They 
ascended  the  hill  on  a  run,  found  the  gate  of  the  Hermitage 
standing  wide  open,  and  on  turning  into  the  avenue  of  secular 
elms  beheld  a  spectacle  that  filled  them  with  amazement. 

"The  devil!"  said  Prosper;  "there  are  a  lot  of  fellows  who 
seem  to  be  taking  things  easy!" 

On  the  fine-crushed  gravel  of  the  terrace,  at  the  bottom  of 
the  steps  that  led  to  the  house,  was  a  merry  company.  Ar- 
ranged in  order  around  a  marble-topped  table  were  a  sofa  and 


37 2  THE  DOWNFALL. 

some  easy-chairs  in  sky-blue  satin,  forming  a  sort  of  fantastic 
open-air  drawing-room,  which  must  have  been  thoroughly 
soaked  by  the  rain  of  the  preceding  day.  Two  zouaves, 
seated  in  a  lounging  attitude  at  either  end  of  the  sofa,  seemed 
to  be  laughing  boisterously.  A  little  infantryman,  who  occu- 
pied one  of  the  fauteuils,  his  head  bent  forward,  was  apparently 
holding  his  sides  to  keep  them  from  splitting.  Three  others 
were  seated  in  a  negligent  pose,  their  elbows  resting  on  the  arms 
of  their  chairs,  while  a  chasseur  had  his  hand  extended  as  if  in 
the  act  of  taking  a  glass  from  the  table.  They  had  evidently 
discovered  the  location  of  the  cellar,  and  were  enjoying  them- 
selves. 

"But  how  in  the  world  do  they  happen  to  be  here?"  mur- 
mured Prosper,  whose  stupefaction  increased  as  he  drew  nearer 
to  them.  "Have  the  rascals  forgotten  there  are  Prussians 
about?" 

But  Silvine,  whose  eyes  had  dilated  far  beyond  their  natural 
size,  suddenly  uttered  an  exclamation  of  horror.  The  soldiers 
never  moved  hand  or  foot;  they  were  stone  dead.  The  two 
zouaves  were  stiff  and  cold ;  they  both  had  had  the  face  shot 
away,  the  nose  was  gone,  the  eyes  were  torn  from  their  sockets. 
If  there  appeared  to  be  a  laugh  on  the  face  of  him  who  was 
holding  his  sides,  it  was  because  a  bullet  had  cut  a  great  fur- 
row through  the  lower  portion  of  his  countenance,  smashing 
all  his  teeth.  The  spectacle  was  an  unimaginably  horrible  one, 
those  poor  wretches  laughing  and  conversing  in  their  attitude 
of  manikins,  with  glassy  eyes  and  open  mouths,  when  Deatli 
had  laid  his  icy  hand  on  them  and  they  were  never  more  to 
know  the  warmth  and  motion  of  life.  Had  they  dragged 
themselves,  still  living,  to  that  place,  so  as  to  die  in  one  anoth- 
er's company?  or  was  it  not  rather  a  ghastly  prank  of  the 
Prussians,  who  had  collected  the  bodies  and  placed  them  in  a 
circle  about  the  table,  out  of  derision  for  the  traditional  gayety 
of  the  French  nation? 

"It's  a  queer  start,  though,  all  the  same,"  muttered  Pros- 
per, whose  face  was  very  pale.  And  casting  a  look  at  the 
other  dead  who  lay  scattered  about  the  avenue,  under  the 
trees  and  on  the  turf,  some  thirty  brave  fellows,  among  them 
Lieutenant  Rochas,  riddled  with  wounds  and  surrounded  still 
by  the  shreds  of  the  flag,  he  added  seriously  and  with  great 
respect:  "There,  must  have  been  some  very  pretty  fighting 
about  here!  I  don't  much  believe  we  shall  find  the  bourgeois 
for  whom  you  are  looking." 


THE  DO  WNFA  LL.  373 

Silvine  entered  the  house,  the  doors  and  windows  of  which 
had  been  battered  in  and  afforded  admission  to  the  damp,  cold 
air  from  without.  It  was  clear  enough  that  there  was  no  one 
there;  the  masters  must  have  taken  their  departure  before  the 
battle.  She  continued  to  prosecute  her  search,  however,  and 
had  entered  the  kitchen,  when  she  gave  utterance  to  another 
cry  of  terror.  Beneath  the  sink  were  two  bodies,  fast  locked 
in  each  other's  arms  in  mortal  embrace,  one  of  them  a  zouave, 
a  handsome,  brown-bearded  man,  the  other  a  huge  Prussian 
with  red  hair.  The  teeth  of  the  former  were  set  in  the  latter' s 
cheek,  their  arms,  stiff  in  death,  had  not  relaxed  their  terrible 
hug,  binding  the  pair  with  such  a  bond  of  everlasting  hate  and 
fury  that  ultimately  it  was  found  necessary  to  bury  them  in  a 
common  grave. 

Then  Prosper  made  haste  to  lead  Silvine  away,  since  they 
could  accomplish  nothing  in  that  house  where  Death  had  taken 
up  his  abode,  and  upon  their  return,  despairing,  to  the  post 
where  the  donkey  and  cart  had  been  detained,  it  so  chanced 
that  they  found,  in  company  with  the  officer  who  had  treated 
them  so  harshly,  a  general  on  his  way  to  visit  the  battlefield. 
This  gentleman  requested  to  be  allowed  to  see  the  pass,  which 
he  examined  attentively  and  restored  to  Silvine;  then,  with  an 
expression  of  compassion  on  his  face,  he  gave  directions  that 
the  poor  woman  should  have  her  donkey  returned  to  her  and 
b'e  allowed  to  go  in  quest  of  her  husband's  body.  Stopping 
only  long  enough  to  thank  her  benefactor,  she  and  her  com- 
panion, with  the  cart  trundling  after  them,  set  out  for  the 
Fond  de  Givonne,  obedient  to  the  instructions  that  were  again 
given  them  not  to  pass  through  Sedan. 

After  that  they  bent  their  course  to  the  left  in  order  to  reach 
the  plateau  of  Illy  by  the  road  that  crosses  the  wood  of  la 
Garenne,  but  here  again  they  were  delayed;  twenty  times  they 
nearly  abandoned  all  hope  of  getting  through  the  wood,  so 
numerous  were  the  obstacles  they  encountered.  At  every  step 
their  way  was  barred  by  huge  trees  that  had  been  laid  low  by 
the  artillery  fire,  stretched  on  the  ground  like  mighty  giants 
fallen.  It  was  the  part  of  the  forest  that  had  suffered  so 
severely  from  the  cannonade,  where  the  projectiles  had  plowed 
their  way  through  the  secular  growths  as  they  might  have  done 
through  a  square  of  the  Old  Guard,  meeting  in  either  case  with 
the  sturdy  resistance  of  veterans.  Everywhere  the  earth  was 
cumbered  with  gigantic  trunks,  stripped  of  their  leaves  and 
branches,  pierced  and  mangled,  even  as  mortals  might  have 


374  THE  DOWNFALL. 

been,  and  this  wholesale  destruction,  the  sight  of  the  poor 
limbs,  maimed,  slaughtered  and  weeping  tears  of  sap,  inspired 
the  beholder  with  the  sickening  horror  of  a  human  battlefield. 
There  were  corpses  of  men  there,  too;  soldiers,  who  had  stood 
fraternally  by  the  trees  and  fallen  with  them.  A  lieutenant, 
from  whose  mouth  exuded  a  bloody  froth,  had  been  tearing  up 
the  grass  by  handfuls  in  his  agony,  and  his  stiffened  fingers 
were  still  buried  in  the  ground.  A  little  farther  on  a  captain, 
prone  on  his  stomach,  had  raised  his  head  to  vent  his  anguish 
in  yells  and  screams,  and  death  had  caught  and  fixed  him  in 
that  strange  attitude.  Others  seemed  to  be  slumbering  among 
the  herbage,  while  a  zouave,  whose  blue  sash  had  taken  fire, 
had  had  his  hair  and  beard  burned  completely  from  his  head. 
And  several  times  it  happened,  as  they  traversed  those  wood- 
land glades,  that  they  had  to  remove  a  body  from  the  path 
before  the  donkey  could  proceed  on  his  way.  Presently  they 
came  to  a  little  valley,  where  the  sights  of  horror  abruptly 
ended.  The  battle  had  evidently  turned  at  this  point  and 
expended  its  force  in  another  direction,  leaving  this  peaceful 
nook  of  nature  untouched.  The  trees  were  all  uninjured;  the 
carpet  of  velvety  moss  was  undefiled  by  blood.  A  little  brook 
coursed  merrily  among  the  duckweed,  the  path  that  ran  along 
its  bank  was  shaded  by  tall  beeches.  A  penetrating  charm,  a 
tender  peacefulness  pervaded  the  solitude  of  the  lovely  spot, 
where  the  living  waters  gave  up  their  coolness  to  the  air  an-d 
the  leaves  whispered  softly  in  the  silence. 

Prosper  had  stopped  to  let  the  donkey  drink  from  the  stream. 

"Ah,  how  pleasant  it  is  here!"  he  involuntarily  exclaimed 
in  his  delight. 

Silvine  cast  an  astonished  look  about  her,  as  if  wondering 
how  it  was  that  she,  too,  could  feel  the  influence  of  the  peace- 
ful scene.  Why  should  there  be  repose  and  happiness  in  that 
hidden  nook,  when  surrounding  it  on  every  side  were  sorrow 
and  affliction?  She  made  a  gesture  of  impatience. 

"Quick,  quick,  let  us  be  gone.  Where  is  the  spot?  Where 
did  you  tell  me  you  saw  Honore?" 

And  when,  at  some  fifty  paces  from  there,  they  at  last  came 
out  on  the  plateau  of  Illy,  the  level  plain  unrolled  itself  in  its 
full  extent  before  their  vision.  It  was  the  real,  the  true  battle- 
field that  they  beheld  now,  the  bare  fields  stretching  away  to 
the  horizon  under  the  wan,  cheerless  sky,  whence  showers  were 
streaming  down  continually.  There  were  no  piles  of  dead 
visible;  all  the  Prussians  must  have  been  buried  by  this  time, 


THE   DOWNFALL.  375 

for  there  was  not  a  single  one  to  be  seen  among  the  corpses  of 
the  French  that  were  scattered  here  and  there,  along  the  roads 
and  in  the  fields,  as  the  conflict  had  swayed  in  one  direction  or 
another.  The  first  that  they  encountered  was  a  sergeant, 
propped  against  a  hedge,  a  superb  man,  in  the  bloom  of  his 
youthful  vigor;  his  face  was  tranquil  and  a  smile  seemed  to 
rest  on  his  parted  lips.  A  hundred  paces  further  on,  however, 
they  beheld  another,  lying  across  the  road,  who  had  been 
mutilated  most  frightfully,  his  head  almost  entirely  shot  away, 
his  shoulders  covered  with  great  splotches  of  brain  matter. 
Then,  as  they  advanced  further  into  the  field,  after  the  single 
bodies,  distributed  here  and  there,  they  came  across  little 
groups;  they  saw  seven  men  aligned  in  single  rank,  kneeling 
and  with  their  muskets  at  the  shoulder  in  the  position  of  aim, 
who  had  been  hit  as  they  were  about  to  fire,  while  close  beside 
them  a  subaltern  had  also  fallen  as  he  was  in  the  act  of  giving 
the  word  of  command.  After  that  the  road  led  along  the 
brink  of  a  little  ravine,  and  there  they  beheld  a  spectacle  that 
aroused  their  horror  to  the  highest  pitch  as  they  looked  down 
into  the  chasm,  into  which  an  entire  company  seemed  to  have 
been  blown  by  the  fiery  blast;  it  was  choked  with  corpses,  a 
landslide,  an  avalanche  of  maimed  and  mutilated  men,  bent 
and  twisted  in  an  inextricable  tangle,  who  with  convulsed  fingers 
had  caught  at  the  yellow  clay  of  the  bank  to  save  themselves 
in  their  descent,  fruitlessly.  And  a  dusky  flock  of  ravens  flew 
away,  croaking  noisily,  and  swarms  of  flies,  thousands  upon 
thousands  of  them,  attracted  by  the  odor  of  fresh  blood,  were 
buzzing  over  the  bodies  and  returning  incessantly. 

"Where  is  the  spot?"  Silvine  asked  again. 

They  were  then  passing  a  plowed  field  that  was  completely 
covered  with  knapsacks.  It  was  manifest  that  some  regiment 
had  been  roughly  handled  there,  and  the  men,  in  a  moment  of 
panic,  had  relieved  themselves  of  their  burdens.  The  debris 
of  every  sort  with  which  the  ground  was  thickly  strewn  served 
to  explain  the  episodes  of  the  conflict.  There  was  a  stubble 
field  where  the  scattered  kepis,  resembling  huge  poppies, 
shreds  of  uniforms,  epaulettes,  and  sword-belts  told  the  story 
of  one  of  those  infrequent  hand-to-hand  contests  in  the  fierce 
artillery  duel  that  had  lasted  twelve  hours.  But  the  objects  that 
were  encountered  most  frequently,  at  every  step,  in  fact,  were 
abandoned  weapons,  sabers,  bayonets,  and,  more  particularly, 
chassepots;  and  so  numerous  were  they  that  they  seemed  to 
have  sprouted  from  the  earth,  a  harvest  that  had  matured  in  a 


376  THE  DOWNFALL. 

single  ill-omened  day.  Porringers  and  buckets,  also,  were 
scattered  along  the  roads,  together  with  the  heterogeneous 
contents  of  knapsacks,  rice,  brushes,  clothing,  cartridges.  The 
fields  everywhere  presented  an  uniform  scene  of  devastation: 
fences  destroyed,  trees  blighted  as  if  they  had  been  struck  by 
lightning,  the  very  soil  itself  torn  by  shells,  compacted  and 
hardened  by  the  tramp  of  countless  feet,  and  so  maltreated 
that  it  seemed  as  if  seasons  must  elapse  before  it  could  again 
become  productive.  Everything  had  been  drenched  and 
soaked  by  the  rain  of  the  preceding  day;  an  odor  arose  and 
hung  in  the  air  persistently,  that  odor  of  the  battlefield  that 
smells  like  fermenting  straw  and  burning  cloth,  a  mixture  of 
rottenness  and  gunpowder. 

Silvine,  who  was  beginning  to  weary  of  those  fields  of  death 
over  which  she  had  tramped  so  many  long  miles,  looked  about 
her  with  increasing  distrust  and  uneasiness. 

"  Where  is  the  spot?  where  is  it?" 

But  Prosper  made  no  answer;  he  also  was  becoming  uneasy. 
What  distressed  him  even  more  than  the  sights  of  suffering 
among  his  fellow-soldiers  was  the  dead  horses,  the  poor  brutes 
that  lay  outstretched  upon  their  side,  that  were  met  with  in 
great  numbers.  Many  of  them  presented  a  most  pitiful  spec- 
tacle, in  all  sorts  of  harrowing  attitudes,  with  heads  torn  from 
the  body,  with  lacerated  flanks  from  which  the  entrails  pro- 
truded. Many  were  resting  on  their  back,  with  their  four  feet 
elevated  in  the  air  like  signals  of  distress.  The  entire  extent 
of  the  broad  plain  was  dotted  with  them.  There  were  some 
that  death  had  not  released  after  their  two  days'  agony;  at  the 
faintest  sound  they  would  raise  their  head,  turning  it  eagerly 
from  right  to  left,  then  let  it  fall  again  upon  the  ground,  while 
others  lay  motionless  and  momentarily  gave  utterance  to  that 
shrill  scream  which  one  who  has  heard  it  can  never  forget, 
the  lament  of  the  dying  horse,  so  piercingly  mournful  that 
earth  and  heaven  seemed  to  shudder  in  unison  with  it.  And 
Prosper,  with  a  bleeding  heart,  thought  of  poor  Zephyr,  and 
told  himself  that  perhaps  he  might  see  him  once  again. 

Suddenly  he  became  aware  that  the  ground  was  trembling 
under  the  thundering  hoof-beats  of  a  headlong  charge.  He 
turned  to  look,  and  had  barely  time  to  shout  to  his  companion  : 

"  The  horses,  the  horses  !     Get  behind  that  wall  !  " 

From  the  summit  of  a  neighboring  eminence  a  hundred 
riderless  horses,  some  of  them  still  bearing  the  saddle  and 
master's  kit,  were  plunging  down  upon  them  at  break-neck 


THE   DOWNFALL,  377 

speed.  They  were  cavalry  mounts  that  had  lost  their  masters 
and  remained  on  the  battlefield,  and  instinct  had  counseled 
them  to  associate  together  in  a  band.  They  had  had  neither 
hay  nor  oats  for  two  days,  and  had  cropped  the  scanty  grass 
from  off  the  plain,  shorn  the  hedge-rows  of  leaves  and  twigs, 
gnawed  the  bark  from  the  trees,  and  when  they  felt  the  pangs 
of  hunger  pricking  at  their  vitals  like  a  keen  spur,  they  started 
all  together  at  a  mad  gallop  and  charged  across  the  deserted, 
silent  fields,  crushing  the  dead  out  of  all  human  shape,  ex- 
tinguishing the  last  spark  of  life  in  the  wounded. 

The  band  came  on  like  a  whirlwind  ;  Silvine  had  only  time 
to  pull  the  donkey  and  cart  to  one  side  where  they  would  be 
protected  by  the  wall. 

"  Man  Dieu!  we  shall  be  killed  !  " 

But  the  horses  had  taken  the  obstacle  in  their  stride  and 
were  already  scouring  away  in  the  distance  on  the  other  side 
with  a  rumble  like  that  of  a  receding  thunder-storm  ;  striking 
into  a  sunken  road  they  pursued  it  as  far  as  the  corner  of  a 
little  wood,  behind  which  they  were  lost  to  sight. 

Silvine,  when  she  had  brought  the  cart  back  into  the  road, 
insisted  that  Prosper  should  answer  her  question  before  they 
proceeded  further. 

"  Come,  where  is  it  ?  You  told  me  you  could  find  the  spot 
with  your  eyes  bandaged  ;  where  is  it?  We  have  reached  the 
ground." 

He,  drawing  himself  up  and  anxiously  scanning  the  horizon 
in  every  direction,  seemed  to  become  more  and  more  per- 
plexed. 

"  There  were  three  trees,  I  must  find  those  three  trees  in  the 
first  place.  Ah,  dame!  see  here,  one's  sight  is  not  of  the 
clearest  when  he  is  fighting,  and  it  is  no  such  easy  matter  to 
remember  afterward  the  roads  one  has  passed  over  !  " 

Then  perceiving  people  to  his  left,  two  men  and  a  woman,  it 
occurred  to  him  to  question  them,  but  the  woman  ran  away  at 
his  approach  and  the  men  repulsed  him  with  threatening 
gestures  ;  and  he  saw  others  of  the  same  stripe,  clad  in  sordid 
rags,  unspeakably  filthy,  with  the  ill-favored  faces  of  thieves 
and  murderers,  and  they  all  shunned  him,  slinking  away  among 
the  corpses  like  jackals  or  other  unclean,  creeping  beasts. 
Then  he  noticed  that  wherever  these  villainous  gentry  passed 
the  dead  behind  them  were  shoeless,  their  bare,  white  feet  ex- 
posed, devoid  of  covering,  and  he  saw  how  it  was  :  they  were 
the  tramps  and  thugs  who  followed  the  German  armies  for  the 


37?  THE  DOWNFALL. 

sake  of  plundering  the  dead,  the  detestable  crew  who  followed 
in  the  wake  of  the  invasion  in  order  that  they  might  reap  their 
harvest  from  the  field  of  blood.  A  tall,  lean  fellow  arose  in 
front  of  him  and  scurried  away  on  a  run,  a  sack  slung  across 
his  shoulder,  the  watches  and  small  coins,  proceeds  of  his  rob- 
beries, jingling  in  his  pockets. 

A  boy  about  fourteen  or  fifteen  years  old,  however,  allowed 
Prosper  to  approach  him,  and  when  the  latter,  seeing  him  to  be 
French,  rated  him  soundly,  the  boy  spoke  up  in  his  defense. 
What,  was  it  wrong  for  a  poor  fellow  to  earn  his  living  ?  He 
was  collecting  chassepots,  and  received  five  sous  for  every 
chassepot  he  brought  in.  He  had  run  away  from  his  village 
that  morning,  having  eaten  nothing  since  the  day  beforehand 
engaged  himself  to  a  contractor  from  Luxembourg,  who  had 
an  arrangement  with  the  Prussians  by  virtue  of  which  he  was  to 
gather  the  muskets  from  the  field  of  battle,  the  Germans  fear- 
ing that  should  the  scattered  arms  be  collected  by  the  peasants 
of  the  frontier,  they  might  be  conveyed  into  Belgium  and 
thence  find  their  way  back  to  France.  And  so  it  was  that 
there  was  quite  a  flock  of  poor  devils  hunting  for  muskets  and 
earning  their  five  sous,  rummaging  among  the  herbage,  like  the 
women  who  may  be  seen  in  the  meadows,  bent  nearly  double, 
gathering  dandelions. 

"It's  a  dirty  Business,"  Prosper  growled. 
"  What  would  you  have  !  A  chap  must  eat,"  the  boy  replied. 
"  I  am  not  robbing  anyone." 

Then,  as  he  did  not  belong  to  that  neighborhood  and  could 
not  give  the  information  that  Prosper  wanted,  he  pointed  out  a 
little  farmhouse  not  far  away  where  he  had  seen  some  people 
stirring. 

Prosper  thanked  him  and  was  moving  away  to  rejoin  Silvine 
when  he  caught  sight  of  a  chassepot,  partially  buried  in  a  fur- 
row. His  first  thought  was  to  say  nothing  of  his  discovery  ; 
then  he  turned  about  suddenly  and  shouted,  as  if  he  could  not 
help  it ; 

"  Hallo  !  here's  one  ;  that  will  make  five  sous  more  for  you." 
As  they  approached  the  farmhouse  Silvine  noticed  other 
peasants  engaged  with  spades  and  picks  in  digging  long 
trenches  ;  but  these  men  were  under  the  direct  command  of 
Prussian  officers,  who,  with  nothing  more  formidable  than  a 
light  walking-stick  in  their  hands,  stood  by,  stiff  and  silent,  and 
superintended  the  work.  They  had  requisitioned  the  inhab- 
itants of  all  the  villages  of  the  vicinity  in  this  manner,  fear* 


THE  DOWNFALL.  379 

ing  that  decomposition  might  be  hastened,  owing  to  the  rainy 
weather.  Two  cart-loads  of  dead  bodies  were  standing  near, 
and  a  gang  of  men  was  unloading  them,  laying  the  corpses  side 
by  side  in  close  contiguity  to  one  another,  not  searching  them, 
not  even  looking  at  their  faces,  while  two  men  followed  after, 
equipped  with  great  shovels,  and  covered  the  row  with  a 
layer  of  earth,  so  thin  that  the  ground  had  already  begun  to 
crack  beneath  the  showers.  The  work  was  so  badly  and 
hastily  done  that  before  two  weeks  should  have  elapsed  each 
of  those  fissures  would  be  breathing  forth  pestilence.  Silvinf 
could  not  resist  the  impulse  to  pause  at  the  brink  of  the  trench 
and  look  at  those  pitiful  corpses  as  they  were  brought  for- 
ward, one  after  another.  She  was  possessed  by  a  horrible  fear 
that  in  each  fresh  body  the  men  brought  from  the  cart  she 
might  recognize  Honore.  Was  not  that  he,  that  poof  wretch 
whose  left  eye  had  been  destroyed  ?  No  !  Perhaps  that  one 
with  the  fractured  jaw  was  he?  The  one  thing  certain  to  her 
mind  was  that  if  she  did  not  make  haste  to  find  him,  wherever 
he  might  be  on  that  boundless,  indeterminate  plateau,  they 
would  pick  him  up  and  bury  him  in  a  common  grave  with  the 
others.  She  therefore  hurried  to  rejoin  Prosper,  who  had  gone 
on  to  the  farmhouse  with  the  cart. 

"  Mon  Dieu  !  how  is  it  that  you  are  not  better  informed  ? 
Where  is  the  place  ?  Ask  the  people,  question  them." 

There  were  none  but  Prussians  at  the  farm,  however,  together 
with  a  woman  servant  and  her  child,  just  come  in  from  the 
woods,  where  they  had  been  near  perishing  of  thirst  and  hunger. 
The  scene  was  one  of  patriarchal  simplicity  and  well-earned 
repose  after  the  fatigues  of  the  last  few  days.  Some  of  the 
soldiers  had  hung  their  uniforms  from  a  clothes-line  and  were 
giving  them  a  thorough  brushing,  another  was  putting  a  patch 
on  his  trousers,  with  great  neatness  and  dexterity,  while  the 
cook  of  the  detachment  had  built  a  great  fire  in  the  middle  of 
the  courtyard  on  which  the  soup  was  boiling  in  a  huge  pot 
from  which  ascended  a  most  appetizing  odor  of  cabbage  and 
bacon.  There  is  no  denying  that  the  Prussians  generally  dis- 
played great  moderation  toward  the  inhabitants  of  the  country 
after  the  conquest,  which  was  made  the  easier  to  them  by  the 
spirit  of  discipline  that  prevailed  among  the  troops.  These 
men  might  have  been  taken  for  peaceable  citizens  just  come  in 
from  their  daily  avocations,  smoking  their  long  pipes.  On  a 
bench  beside  the  door  sat  a  stout,  red-bearded  man,  who  had 
taken  up  the  servant's  child,  a  little  urchin  five  or  six  years  old, 


380  THE  DOWNFALL. 

and  was  dandling  it  and  talking  baby-talk  to  it  in  German, 
delighted  to  see  the  little  one  laugh  at  the  harsh  syllables  which 
it  could  not  understand. 

Prosper,  fearing  there  might  be  more  trouble  in  store  for 
them,  had  turned  his  back  on  the  soldiers  immediately  on 
entering,  but  those  Prussians  were  really  good  fellows  ;  they 
smiled  at  the  little  donkey,  and  did  not  even  trouble  themselves 
to  ask  for  a  sight  of  the  pass. 

Then  ensued  a  wild,  aimless  scamper  across  the  bosom  of 
the  great,  sinister  plain.  The  sun,  now  sinking  rapidly  toward 
the  horizon,  showed  its  face  for  a  moment  from  between  two 
clouds.  Was  night  to  descend  and  surprise  them  in  the  midst 
of  that  vast  charnel-house  ?  Another  shower  came  down  ; 
the  sun  was  obscured,  the  rain  and  mist  formed  an  impenetra- 
ble barrier  about  them,  so  that  the  country  around,  roads,  fields, 
trees,  was  shut  out  from  their  vision.  Prosper  knew  not  where 
they  were  ;  he  was  lost,  and  admitted  it :  his  memory  was  all 
astray,  he  could  recall  nothing  precise  of  the  occurrences  of 
that  terrible  day  but  one  before.  Behind  them,  his  head 
lowered  almost  to  the  ground,  the  little  donkey  trotted  along 
resignedly,  dragging  the  cart,  with  his  customary  docility. 
First  they  took  a  northerly  course,  then  they  returned  toward 
Sedan.  They  had  lost  their  bearings  and  could  not  tell  in 
which  direction  they  were  going  ;  twice  they  noticed  that  they 
were  passing  localities  that  they  had  passed  before  and  retraced 
their  steps.  They  had  doubtless  been  traveling  in  a  circle,  and 
there  came  a  moment  when  in  their  exhaustion  and  despair 
they  stopped  at  a  place  where  three  roads  met,  without  courage 
to  pursue  their  search  further,  the  rain  pelting  down  on  them, 
lost  and  utterly  miserable  in  the  midst  of  a  sea  of  mud. 

But  they  heard  the  sound  of  groans,  and  hastening  to  a 
lonely  little  house  on  their  left,  found  there,  in  one  of  the  bed- 
rooms, two  wounded  men.  All  the  doors  were  standing  open  ; 
the  two  unfortunates  had  succeeded  in  dragging  themselves  thus 
far  and  had  thrown  themselves  on  the  beds,  and  for  the  two 
days  that  they  had  been  alternately  shivering  and  burning,  their 
wounds  having  received  no  attention,  they  had  seen  no  one,  not 
a  living  soul.  They  were  tortured  by  a  consuming  thirst,  and 
the  beating  of  the  rain  against  the  window-panes  added  to  their 
torment,  but  they  could  not  move  hand  or  foot.  Hence,  when 
they  heard  Silvine  approaching,  the  first  word  that  escaped 
their  lips  was  :  "  Drink  !  Give  us  to  drink  !  "  that  longing, 
pathetic  cry,  with  which  the  wounded  always  pursue  the  by 


THE  DOWNFALL.  381 

passer  whenever  the  sound  of  footsteps  arouses  them  from 
their  lethargy.  There  were  many  cases  similar  to  this,  where 
men  were  overlooked  in  remote  corners,  whither  they  had  fled 
for  refuge.  Some  were  picked  up  even  five  and  six  days  later, 
when  their  sores  were  filled  with  maggots  and  their  sufferings 
had  rendered  them  delirious. 

When  Silvine  had  given  the  wretched  men  a  drink  Prosper, 
who,  in  the  more  sorely  injured  of  the  twain,  had  recognized  a 
comrade  of  his  regiment,  a  chasseur  d'Afrique,  saw  that  they 
could  not  be  far  from  the  ground  over  which  Margueritte's  di- 
vision had  charged,  inasmuch  as  the  poor  devil  had  been  able 
to  drag  himself  to  that  house.  All  the  information  he  could 
get  from  him,  however,  was  of  the  vaguest  ;  yes,  it  was  over 
that  way  ;  you  turned  to  the  left,  after  passing  a  big  field  of 
potatoes. 

Immediately  she  was  in  possession  of  this  slender  clue  Sil- 
vine insisted  on  starting  out  again.  An  inferior  officer  of  the 
medical  department  chanced  to  pass  with  a  cart  just  then,  col- 
lecting the  dead  ;  she  hailed  him  and  notified  him  of  the  pres- 
ence of  the  wounded  men,  then,  throwing  the  donkey's  bridle 
across  her  arm,  urged  him  along  over  the  muddy  road,  eager  to 
reach  the  designated  spot,  beyond  the  big  potato  field.  When 
they  had  gone  some  distance  she  stopped,  yielding  to  her  despair. 

"My  God,  where  is  the  place  !     Where  can  it  be  ?" 

Prosper  looked  about  him,  taxing  his  recollection  fruitlessly. 

"  I  told  you,  it  is  close  beside  the  place  where  we  made  our 
charge.  If  only  I  could  find  my  poor  Zephyr " 

And  he  cast  a  wistful  look  on  the  dead  horses  that  lay  around 
them.  It  had  been  his  secret  hope,  his  dearest  wish,  during  the 
entire  time  they  had  been  wandering  over  the  plateau,  to  see 
his  mount  once  more,  to  bid  him  a  last  farewell. 

"  It  ought  to  be  somewhere  in  this  vicinity,"  he  suddenly 
said.  "  See  !  over  there  to  the  left,  there  are  the  three  trees. 
You  see  the  wheel-tracks?  And,  look,  over  yonder  is  a  broken- 
down  caisson.  We  have  found  the  spot  ;  we  are  here  at  last  !" 

Quivering  with  emotion,  Silvine  darted  forward  and  eagerly 
scanned  the  faces  of  two  corpses,  two  artillerymen  who  had 
fallen  by  the  roadside. 

"  He  is  not  here  !  He  is  not  here  !  You  cannot  have  seen 
aright.  Yes,  that  is  it  ;  some  delusion  must  have  cheated  your 
eyes."  And  little  by  little  an  air-drawn  hope,  a  wild  delight 
crept  into  her  mind.  "  If  you  were  mistaken,  if  he  should  be. 
alive  !  And  be  sure  he  is  alive,  since  he  is  not  here  !  " 


382  THE  DOWNFALL. 

Suddenly  she  gave  utterance  to  a  low,  smothered  cry.  She 
had  turned,  and  was  standing  on  the  very  position  that  the 
battery  had  occupied.  The  scene  was  most  frightful,  the 
ground  torn  and  fissured  as  by  an  earthquake  and  covered  with 
wreckage  of  every  description,  the  dead  lying  as  they  had  fallen 
in  every  imaginable  attitude  of  horror,  arms  bent  and  twisted, 
legs  doubled  under  them,  heads  thrown  back,  the  lips  parted 
over  .the  white  teeth  as  if  their  last  breath  had  been  expended 
in  shouting  defiance  to  the  foe.  A  corporal  had  died  with  his 
hands  pressed  convulsively  to  his  eyes,  unable  longer  to  endure 
the  dread  spectacle.  Some  gold  coins  that  a  lieutenant  carried 
in  a  belt  about  his  body  had  been  spilled  at  the  same  time  as 
his  life-blood,  and  lay  scattered  among  his  entrails.  There 
were  Adolphe,  the  driver,  and  the  gunner,  Louis,  clasped  in 
each  other's  arms  in  a  fierce  embrace,  their  sightless  orbs  start- 
ing from 'their  sockets,  mated  even  in  death.  And  there,  at 
last,  was  Honore,  recumbent  on  his  disabled  gun  as  on  a  bed 
of  honor,  with  the  great  rent  in  his  side  that  had  let  out  his 
young  life,  his  face,  unmutilated  and  beautiful  in  its  stern 
anger,  still  turned  defiantly  toward  the  Prussian  batteries. 

"  Oh  !  my  friend,"  sobbed  Silvine,  "  my  friend,  my 
friend " 

She  had  fallen  to  her  knees  on  the  damp,  cold  ground,  her 
hands  joined  as  if  in  prayer,  in  an  outburst  of  frantic  grief. 
The  word  friend,  the  only  name  by  which  it  occurred  to  her  to 
address  him,  told  the  story  of  the  tender  affection  she  had  lost 
in  that  man,  so  good,  so  loving,  who  had  forgiven  her,  had 
meant  to  make  her  his  wife,  despite  the  ugly  past.  And  now  all 
hope  was  dead  within  her  bosom,  there  was  nothing  left  to 
make  life  desirable.  She  had  never  loved  another  ;  she  would 
put  away  her  love  for  him  at  the  bottom  of  her  heart  and  hold 
it  sacred  there.  The  rain  had  ceased  ;  a  flock  of  crows  that 
circled  above  the  three  trees,  croaking  dismally,  affected  her 
like  a  menace  of  evil.  Was  he  to  be  taken  from  her  again,  her 
cherished  dead,  whom  she  had  recovered  with  such  difficulty  ? 
She  dragged  herself  along  upon  her  knees,  and  with  a  trembling 
hand  brushed  away  the  hungry  flies  that  were  buzzing  about 
her  friend's  wide-open  eyes. 

She  caught  sight  of  a  bit  of  blood-stained  paper  between 
Honore's  stiffened  fingers.  It  troubled  her  ;  she  tried  to  gain 
possession  of  the  paper,  pulling  at  it  gently,  but  the  dead  man 
would  not  surrender  it,  seemingly  tightening  his  hold  on  it, 

it  so  jealously  that  it  cgulcl  not  have  been,  taken  from 


THE  DOWNFALL.  383 

him  without  tearing  it  in  bits.  It  was  the  letter  she  had  written 
him,  that  he  had  always  carried  next  his  heart,  and  that  he  had 
taken  from  its  hiding  place  in  the  moment  of  his  supreme 
agony,  as  if  to  bid  her  a  last  farewell.  It  seemed  so  strange, 
was  such  a  revelation,  that  he  should  have  died  thinking  of 
her  ;  when  she  saw  what  it  was  a  profound  delight  filled  her 
soul  in  the  midst  of  her  affliction.  Yes,  surely,  she  would  leave 
it  with  him,  the  letter  that  was  so  dear  to  him  !  she  would  not 
take  it  from  him,  since  he  was  so  bent  on  carrying  it  with  him 
to  the  grave.  Her  tears  flowed  afresh,  but  they  were  beneficent 
tears  this  time,  and  brought  healing  and  comfort  with  them. 
She  arose  and  kissed  his  hands,  kissed  him  on  the  forehead, 
uttering  meanwhile  but  that  one  word,  which  was  in  itself  a 
prolonged  caress  : 

"  My  friend  !  my  friend " 

Meantime  the  sun  was  declining  ;  Prosper  had  gone  and 
taken  the  counterpane  from  the  cart,  and  between  them  they 
raised  Honore's  body,  slowly,  reverently,  and  laid  it  on  the 
bed-covering,  which  they  had  stretched  upon  the  ground  ;  then, 
first  wrapping  him  in  its  folds,  they  bore  him  to  the  cart.  It 
was  threatening  to  rain  again,  and  they  had  started  on  their 
return,  forming,  with  the  donkey,  a  sorrowful  little  cortege  on 
the  broad  bosom  of  the  accursed  plain,  when  a  deep  rumbling 
as  of  thunder  was  heard  in  the  distance.  Prosper  turned  his 
head  and  had  only  time  to  shout : 

"  The  horses  !  the  horses  !  " 

It  was  the  starving,  abandoned  cavalry  mounts  making  an- 
other charge.  They  came  up  this  time  in  a  deep  mass  across 
a  wide,  smooth  field,  manes  and  tails  streaming  in  the  wind, 
froth  flying  from  their  nostrils,  and  the  level  rays  of  the  fiery 
setting  sun  sent  the  shadow  of  the  infuriated  herd  clean  across 
the  plateau.  Silvine  rushed  forward  and  planted  herself  be- 
fore the  cart,  raising  her  arms  above  her  head  as  if  her  puny 
form  might  have  power  to  check  them.  Fortunately  the 
ground  fell  off  just  at  that  point,  causing  them  to  swerve  to  the 
left ;  otherwise  they  would  have  crushed  donkey,  cart,  and  all 
to  powder.  The  earth  trembled,  and  their  hoofs  sent  a  volley 
of  clods  and  small  stones  flying  through  the  air,  one  of  which 
struck  the  donkey  on  the  head  and  wounded  him.  The  last 
that  was  seen  of  them  they  were  tearing  down  a  ravine. 

"  It's  hunger  that  starts  them  off  like  that,"  said  Prosper. 
"  Poor  beasts  !  " 

Silvine,  having  bandaged  the  donkey's  ear  with  her  handker- 


384  THE  DOWNFALL. 

chief,  took  him  again  by  the  bridle,  and  the  mournful  little 
procession  began  to  retrace  its  steps  across  the  plateau,  to 
cover  the  two  leagues  that  lay  between  it  and  Remilly.  Pros- 
per had  turned  and  cast  a  look  on  the  dead  horses,  his  heart 
heavy  within  him  to  leave  the  field  without  having  seen 
Zephyr. 

A  little  below  the  wood  of  la  Garenne,  as  they  were  about  to 
turn  off  to  the  left  to  take  the  road  that  they  had  traversed 
that  morning,  they  encountered  another  German  post  and  were 
again  obliged  to  exhibit  their  pass.  And  the  officer  in  com- 
mand, instead  of  telling  them  to  avoid  Sedan,  ordered  them  to 
keep  straight  on  their  course  and  pass  through  the  city;  other- 
wise they  would  be  arrested.  This  was  the  most  recent  or- 
der ;  it  was  not  for  them  to  question  it.  Moreover,  their  jour- 
ney would  be  shortened  by  a  mile  and  a  quarter,  which  they 
did  not  regret,  weary  and  foot-sore  as  they  were. 

When  they  were  within  Sedan,  however,  they  found  their 
progress  retarded  owing  to  a  singular  cause.  As  soon  as  they 
had  passed  the  fortifications  their  nostrils  were  saluted  by  such 
a  stench,  they  were  obliged  to  wade  through  such  a  mass  of 
abominable  filth,  reaching  almost  to  theii  knees,  as  fairly 
turned  their  stomachs.  The  city,  where  for  three  days  a  hun- 
dred thousand  men  had  lived  without  the  slightest  provision 
being  made  for  decency  or  cleanliness,  had  become  a  cesspool,  a 
foul  sewer,  and  this  devil's  broth  was  thickened  by  all  sorts  of 
solid  matter,  rotting  hay  and  straw,  stable  litter,  and  the  excreta 
of  animals.  The  carcasses  of  the  horses,  too,  that  were 
knocked  on  the  head,  skinned,  and  cut  up  in  the  public  squares, 
in  full  view  of  everyone,  had  their  full  share  in  contaminating 
the  atmosphere  ;  the  entrails  lay  decaying  in  the  hot  sunshine, 
the  bones  and  heads  were  left  lying  on  the  pavement,  where 
they  attracted  swarms  of  flies.  Pestilence  would  surely  break 
out  in  the  city  unless  they  made  haste  to  rid  themselves  of  all 
that  carrion,  of  that  stratum  of  impurity,  which,  in  the  Rue  de 
Minil,  the  Rue  Maqua,  and  even  on  the  Place  Turenne, 
reached  a  depth  of  twelve  inches.  The  Prussian  authorities 
had  taken  the  matter  up,  and  their  placards  were  to  be  seen 
posted  about  the  city,  requisitioning  the  inhabitants,  irrespec- 
tive of  rank,  laborers,  merchants,  bourgeois,  magistrates,  for 
the  morrow;  they  were  ordered  to  assemble,  armed  with  brooms 
and  shovels,  and  apply  themselves  to  the  task,  and  were  warned 
that  they  would  be  subjected  to  heavy  penalties  if  the  city  was 
not  clean  by  night.  The  President  of  the  Tribunal  had  taken 


THE  DOWNFALL.  385 

time  by  the  forelock,  and  might  even  then  be  seen  scraping 
away  at  the  pavement  before  his  door  and  loading  the  results 
of  his  labors  upon  a  wheelbarrow  with  a  fire-shovel. 

Silvine  and  Prosper,  who  had  selected  the  Grande  Rue  as 
their  route  for  traversing  the  city,  advanced  but  slowly  through 
that  lake  of  malodorous  slime.  In  addition  to  that  the  place 
was  in  a  state  of  ferment  and  agitation  that  made  it  necessary 
for  them  to  pull  up  almost  at  every  moment.  It  was  the  time 
that  the  Prussians  had  selected  for  searching  the  houses  in 
order  to  unearth  those  soldiers,  who,  determined  that  they 
would  not  give  themselves  up,  had  hidden  themselves  away. 
When,  at  about  two  o'clock  of  the  preceding  day,  General  de 
Wirnpffen  had  returned  from  the  chateau  of  Bellevue  after 
signing  the  capitulation,  the  report  immediately  began  to  cir- 
culate that  the  surrendered  troops  were  to  be  held  under  guard 
in  the  peninsula  of  Iges  until  such  time  as  arrangements  could 
be  perfected  for  sending  them  off  to  Germany.  Some  few 
officers  had  expressed  their  intention  of  taking  advantage  of 
that  stipulation  which  accorded  them  their  liberty  conditionally 
on  their  signing  an  agreement  not  to  serve  again  during  the 
campaign.  Only  one  general,  so  it  was  said,  Bourgain-Des- 
feuilles,  alleging  his  rheumatism  as  a  reason,  had  bound  him- 
self by  that  pledge,  and  when,  that  very  morning,  his  carriage 
had  driven  up  to  the  door  of  the  hotel  of  the  Golden  Cross 
and  he  had  taken  his  seat  in  it  to  leave  the  city,  the  people  had 
hooted  and  hissed  him  unmercifully.  The  operation  of  dis- 
arming had  been  going  on  since  break  of  day  ;  the  manner  of 
its  performance  was,  the  troops  defiled  by  battalions  on  the 
Place  Turenue,  where  each  man  deposited  his  musket  and 
bayonet  on  the  pile,  like  a  mountain  of  old  iron,  which  kept 
rising  higher  and  higher,  in  a  corner  of  the  place.  There  was 
a  Prussian  detachment  there  under  the  command  of  a  young 
officer,  a  tall,  pale  youth,  wearing  a  sky-blue  tunic  and  a  cap 
adorned  with  a  cock's  feather,  who  superintended  operations 
with  a  lofty  but  soldierlike  air,  his  hands  encased  in  white 
gloves.  A  zouave,  in  a  fit  of  insubordination,  having  refused 
to  give  up  his  chassepot,  the  officer  ordered  that  he  be  taken 
away,  adding,  in  the  same  even  tone  of  voice  :  "And  let  him 
be  shot  forthwith  !  "  The  rest  of  the  battalion  continued  to 
defile  with  a  sullen  and  dejected  air,  throwing  down  their  arms 
mechanically,  as  if  in  haste  to  have  the  ceremony  ended.  But 
who  could  estimate  the  number  of  those  who  had  disarmed 
themselves  voluntarily,  those  whose  muskets  lay  scattered  over 


THE  DOWNFALL. 

the  country,  out  yonder  on  the  field  of  battle?  And  how 
many,  too,  within  the  last  twenty-four  hours  had  concealed 
themselves,  flattering  themselves  with  the  hope  that  they  might 
escape  in  the  confusion  that  reigned  everywhere !  There  was 
scarcely  a  house  but  had  its  crew  of  those  headstrong  idiots 
who  refused  to  respond  when  called  on,  hiding  away  in  corners 
and  shamming  death  ;  the  German  patrols  that  were  sent 
through  the  city  even  discovered  them  stowed  away  under 
beds.  And  as  many,  even  after  they  were  unearthed,  stub- 
bornly persisted  in  remaining  in  the  cellars  whither  they  had 
fled  for  shelter,  the  patrols  were  obliged  to  fire  on  them  through 
the  coal-holes.  It  was  a  man-hunt,  a  brutal  and  cruel  battue, 
during  which  the  city  resounded  with  rifle-shots  and  outlandish 
oaths. 

At  the  Pont  du  Meuse  they  found  a  throng  which  the  donkey 
was  unable  to  penetrate  and  were  brought  to  a  stand-still. 
The  officer  commanding  the  guard  at  the  bridge,  suspecting 
they  were  endeavoring  to  carry  on  an  illicit  traffic  in  bread  or 
meat,  insisted  on  seeing  with  his  own  eyes  what  was  contained 
in  the  cart  ;  drawing  aside  the  covering,  he  gazed  for  an  instant 
on  the  corpse  with  a  feeling  expression,  then  motioned  them  to 
go  their  way.  Still,  however,  they  were  unable  to  get  forward, 
the  crowd  momentarily  grew  denser  and  denser  ;  one  of  the  first 
detachments  of  French  prisoners  was  being  conducted  to  the 
peninsula  of  Iges  under  escort  of  a  Prussian  guard.  The 
sorry  band  streamed  on  in  long  array,  the  men  in  their  tattered, 
dirty  uniforms  crowding  one  another,  treading  on  one  another's 
heels,  with  bowed  heads  and  sidelong,  hang-dog  looks,  the  de- 
jected gait  and  bearing  of  the  vanquished  to  whom  had  been 
left  not  even  so  much  as  a  knife  with  which  to  cut  their  throat. 
The  harsh,  curt  orders  of  the  guard  urging  them  forward  re- 
sounded like  the  cracking  of  a  whip  in  the  silence,  which  was 
unbroken  save  for  the  plashing  of  their  coarse  shoes  through 
the  semi-liquid  mud.  Another  shower  began  to  fall,  and  there 
could  be  no  more  sorrowful  sight  than  that  band  of  disheart- 
ened soldiers,  shuffling  along  through  the  rain,  like  beggars 
and  vagabonds  on  the  public  highway. 

All  at  once  Prosper,  whose  heart  was  beating  as  if  it  would 
burst  his  bosom  with  repressed  sorrow  and  indignation, 
nudged  Silvine  and  called  her  attention  to  two  soldiers  who 
were  passing  at  the  moment.  He  had  recognized  Maurice  and 
Jean,  trudging  along  with  their  companions,  like  brothers,  side 
i>y  side.  They  were  near  the  end  of  the  line,  and  as  there  was 


THE  DOWNFALL.  387 

now  no  impediment  in  their  way,  he  was  enabled  to  keep  them 
in  view  as  far  as  the  Faubourg  of  Torcy,  as  they  traversed  the 
level  road  which  leads  to  Iges  between  gardens  and  truck 
farms. 

"  Ah  !  "  murmured  Silvine,  distressed  by  what  she  had  just 
seen,  fixing  her  eyes  on  Honore's  body,  "  it  may  be  that  the 
dead  have  the  better  part !  " 

Night  descended  while  they  were  at  Wadelincourt,  and  it 
was  pitchy  dark  long  before  they  reached  Remilly.  Father 
Fouchard  was  greatly  surprised  to  behold  the  body  of  his  son, 
for  he  had  felt  certain  that  it  would  never  be  recovered.  He 
had  been  attending  to  business  during  the  day,  and  had  com- 
pleted an  excellent  bargain  ;  the  market  price  for  officers' 
chargers  was  twenty  francs,  and  he  had  bought  three  for  forty- 
five  francs. 

II. 

THE  crush  was  so  great  as  the  column  of  prisoners  was  leav- 
ing Torcy  that  Maurice,  who  had  stopped  a  moment  to 
buy  some  tobacco,  was  parted  from  Jean,  and  with  all  his 
efforts  was  unable  thereafter  to  catch  up  with  his  regiment 
through  the  dense  masses  of  men  that  filled  the  road.  When 
he  at  last  reached  the  bridge  that  spans  the  canal  which  inter- 
sects the  peninsula  of  Iges  at  its  base,  he  found  himself  in  a 
mixed  company  of  chasseurs  d'Afrique  and  troops  of  the  infan- 
terie  de  marine. 

There  were  two  pieces  of  artillery  stationed  at  the  bridge, 
their  muzzles  turned  upon  the  interior  of  the  peninsula  ;  it  was 
a  place  easy  of  access,  but  from  which  exit  would  seem  to  be 
attended  with  some  difficulties.  Immediately  beyond  the 
canal  was  a  comfortable  house,  where  the  Prussians  had  estab- 
lished a  post,  commanded  by  a  captain,  upon  which  devolved 
the  duty  of  receiving  and  guarding  the  prisoners.  The  for- 
malities observed  were  not  excessive  ;  they  merely  counted  the 
men,  as  if  they  had  been  sheep,  as  they  came  streaming  in  a 
huddle  across  the  bridge,  without  troubling  themselves  over- 
much about  uniforms  or  organizations,  after  which  the  prisoners 
were  free  of  the  fields  and  at  liberty  to  select  their  dwelling- 
place  wherever  chance  and  the  road  they  were  on  might  direct 

The  first  thing  that  Maurice  did  was  to  address  a  question  to 
a  Bavarian  officer,  who  was  seated  astride  upon  a  chair,  enjoy 
ing  a  tranquil  smoke. 


388  THE  DOWNFALL. 

"  The  io6th  of  the  line,  sir,  can  you  tell  me  where  I  shall 
find  it  ?  " 

Either  the  officer  was  unlike  most  German  officers  and  did 
not  understand  French,  or  thought  it  a  good  joke  to  mystify  a 
poor  devil  of  a  soldier.  He  smiled  and  raised  his  hand,  indi- 
cating by  his  motion  that  the  other  was  to  keep  following  the 
road  he  was  pursuing. 

Although  Maurice  had  spent  a  good  part  of  his  life  in  the 
neighborhood  he  had  never  before  been  on  the  peninsula  ;  he 
proceeded  to  explore  his  new  surroundings,  as  a  manner  might 
do  when  cast  by  a  tempest  on  the  shore  of  a  desolate  island 
He  first  skirted  the  Tour  a  Glaire,  a  very  handsome  country- 
place,  whose  small  park,  situated  as  it  was  on  the  bank  of  the 
Meuse,  possessed  a  peculiarly  attractive  charm.  After  that  the 
road  ran  parallel  with  the  river,  of  which  the  sluggish  current 
flowed  on  the  right  hand  at  the  foot  of  high,  steep  banks.  The 
way  from  there  was  a  gradually  ascending  one,  until  it  wound 
around  the  gentle  eminence  that  occupied  the  central  portion 
of  the  peninsula,  and  there  were  abandoned  quarries  there  and 
excavations  in  the  ground,  in  which  a  network  of  narrow  paths 
had  their  termination.  A  little  further  on  was  a  mill,  seated 
on  the  border  of  the  stream.  Then  the  road  curved  and  pur- 
sued a  descending  course  until  it  entered  the  village  of  Iges, 
which  was  built  on  the  hillside  and  connected  by  a  ferry  with 
the  further  shore,  just  opposite  the  rope-walk  at  Saint-Albert. 
Last  of  all  came  meadows  and  cultivated  fields,  a  broad 
expanse  of  level,  treeless  country,  around  which  the  river 
swept  in  a  wide,  circling  bend.  In  vain  had  Maurice  scruti- 
nized every  inch  of  uneven  ground  on  the  hillside  ;  all  he  could 
distinguish  there  was  cavalry  and  artillery,  preparing  their 
quarters  for  the  night.  He  made  further  inquiries,  applying 
among  others  to  a  corporal  of  chasseurs  d'Afrique,  who  could 
give  him  no  information.  The  prospect  for  finding  his  regi- 
ment looked  bad  ;  night  was  coming  down,  and,  leg-weary  and 
disheartened,  he  seated  himself  for  a  moment  on  a  stone  by 
the  wayside. 

As  he  sat  there,  abandoning  himself  to  the  sensation  of  loneli- 
ness and  despair  that  crept  over  him,  he  beheld  before  him, 
across  the  Meuse,  the  accursed  fields  where  he  had  fought  the 
day  but  one  before.  Bitter  memories  rose  to  his  mind,  in  the 
fading  light  of  that  day  of  gloom  and  rain,  as  he  surveyed  the 
saturated,  miry  expanse  of  country  that  rose  from  the  river's 
bank  and  was  lost  on  the  horizon.  The  defile  of  Saint-Albert. 


THE  DOWNFALL.  389 

the  narrow  road  by  which  the  Prussians  h;:d  gained  their  rear, 
ran  along  the  bend  of  the  stream  as  far  as  the  white  cliffs  of 
the  quarries  of  Montimont.  The  summits  of  the  trees  in  the 
wood  of  la  Falizette  rose  in  rounded,  fleecy  masses  over  the 
rising  ground  of  Seugnon.  Directly  before  his  eyes,  a  little  to 
the  left,  was  Saint-Menges,  the  road  from  which  descended  by 
a  gentle  slope  and  ended  at  the  ferry  ;  there,  too,  were  the 
mamelon  of  Hattoy  in  the  center,  and  Illy,  in  the  far  distance, 
in  the  background,  and  Fleigneux,  almost  hidden  in  its  shal- 
low vale,  and  Floing,  less  remote,  on  the  right.  He  recog- 
nized the  plateau  where  he  had  spent  interminable  hours  among 
the  cabbages,  and  the  eminences  that  the  reserve  artillery  had 
struggled  so  gallantly  to  hold,  where  he  had  seen  Honore  meet 
his  death  on  his  dismounted  gun.  And  it  was  as  if  the  bale- 
ful scene  were  again  before  him  with  all  its  abominations,  steep- 
ing his  mind  in  horror  and  disgust,  until  he  was  sick  at  heart. 

The  reflection  that  soon  it  would  be  quite  dark  and  it  would 
not  do  to  loiter  there,  however,  caused  him  to  resume  his  re- 
searches. He  said  to  himself  that  perhaps  the  regiment  was 
encamped  somewhere  beyond  the  village  on  the  low  ground, 
but  the  only  ones  he  encountered  there  were  some  prowlers, 
and  he  decided  to  make  the  circuit  of  the  peninsula,  following 
the  bend  of  the  stream.  As  he  was  passing  through  a  field  of 
potatoes  he  was  sufficiently  thoughtful  to  dig  a  few  of  the 
tubers  and  put  them  in  his  pockets  ;  they  were  not  ripe,  but  he 
had  nothing  better,  for  Jean,  as  luck  would  have  it,  had  insisted 
on  carrying  both  the  two  loaves  of  bread  that  Delaherche  had 
given  them  when  they  left  his  house.  He  was  somewhat  sur- 
prised at  the  number  of  horses  he  met  with,  roaming  about  the 
uncultivated  lands,  that  fell  off  in  an  easy  descent  from  the 
central  elevation  to  the  Meuse,  in  the  direction  of  Donchery. 
Why  should  they  have  brought  all  those  animals  with  them  ? 
how  were  they  to  be  fed  ?  And  now  it  was  night  in  earnest, 
and  quite  dark,  when  he  came  to  a  small  piece  of  woods  on  the 
water's  brink,  in  which  he  was  surprised  to  find  the  cent- 
gardes  of  the  Emperor's  escort,  providing  for  their  creature 
comforts  and  drying  themselves  before  roaring  fires.  These 
gentlemen,  who  had  a  separate  encampment  to  themselves,  had 
comfortable  tents  ;  their  kettles  were  boiling  merrily,  there 
was  a  milch  cow  tied  to  a  tree.  It  did  not  take  Maurice  long 
to  see  that  he  was  not  regarded  with  favor  in  that  quarter,  poor 
devil  of  an  infantryman  that  he  was,  with  his  ragged,  mud- 
stained  uniform.  They  graciously  accorded  him  permission 


39°  THE  DOWNFALL. 

to  roast  his  potatoes  in  the  ashes  of  their  fires,  however,  and 
he  withdrew  to  the  shelter  of  a  tree,  some  hundred  yards  away, 
to  eat  them.  It  was  no  longer  raining  ;  the  sky  was  clear,  the 
stars  were  shining  brilliantly  in  the  dark  blue  vault.  He  saw 
that  he  should  have  to  spend  the  night  in  the  open  air  and 
defer  his  researches  until  the  morrow.  He  was  so  utterly  used 
up  that  he  could  go  no  further  ;  the  trees  would  afford  him 
some  protection  in  case  it  came  on  to  rain  again. 

The  strangeness  of  his  situation,  however,  and  the  thought 
of  his  vast  prison  house,  open  to  the  winds  of  heaven,  would 
not  let  him  sleep.  It  had  been  an  extremely  clever  move  on 
the  part  of  the  Prussians  to  select  that  place  of  confinement  for 
the  eighty  thousand  men  who  constituted  the  remnant  of  the 
army  of  Chalons.  The  peninsula  was  approximately  three 
miles  long  by  one  wide,  affording  abundant  space  for  the 
broken  fragments  of  the  vanquished  host,  and  Maurice  could 
not  fail  to  observe  that  it  was  surrounded  on  every  side  by 
water,  the-bend  of  the  Meuse  encircling  it  on  the  north,  east 
and  west,  while  on  the  south,  at  the  base,  connecting  the  two 
arms  of  the  loop  at  the  point  where  they  drew  together  most 
closely,  was  the  canal.  Here  alone  was  an  outlet,  the  bridge, 
that  was  defended  by  two  guns  ;  wherefore  it  may  be  seen  that 
the  guarding  of  the  camp  was  a  comparatively  easy  task,  not- 
withstanding its  great  extent.  He  had  already  taken  note  of 
the  chain  of  sentries  on  the  farther  bank,  a  soldier  being  sta- 
tioned by  the  waterside  at  every  fifty  paces,  with  orders  to  fire 
on  any  man  who  should  attempt  to  escape  by  swimming.  In 
the  rear  the  different  posts  were  connected  by  patrols  of  uhlans, 
while  further  in  the  distance,  scattered  over  the  broad  fields, 
were  the  dark  lines  of  the  Prussian  regiments ;  a  threefold 
living,  moving  wall,  immuring  the  captive  army. 

Maurice,  in  his  sleeplessness,  lay  gazing  with  wide-open  eyes 
into  the  blackness  of  the  night,  illuminated  here  and  there  by 
the  smoldering  watch-fires  ;  the  motionless  forms  of  the  senti- 
nels were  dimly  visible  beyond  the  pale  ribbon  of  the  Meuse. 
Erect  they  stood,  duskier  spots  against  the  dusky  shadows,  be- 
neath the  faint  light  of  the  twinkling  stars,  and  at  regular  inter- 
vals their  guttural  call  came  to  his  ears,  a  menacing  watch-cry 
that  was  drowned  in  the  hoarse  murmur  of  the  river  in  the  dis- 
tance. At  sound  of  those  unmelodious  phrases  in  a  foreign 
tongue,  rising  on  the  still  air  of  a  starlit  night  in  the  sunny  land 
of  France,  the  vision  of  the  past  again  rose  before  him  :  all  that 
he  had  beheld  in  memory  an  hour  before,  the  plateau  of  Illy 


Ttt£  DOWNFALL.  39* 

cumbered  still  with  dead,  the  accursed  country  round  about 
Sedan  that  had  been  the  scene  of  such  dire  disaster ;  and  rest- 
ing on  the  ground  in  that  cool,  damp  corner  of  a  wood,  his 
head  pillowed  on  a  root,  he  again  yielded  to  the  feeling  of  de- 
spair that  had  overwhelmed  him  the  day  before  while  lying  on 
Delaherche's  sofa.  And  that  which,  intensifying  the  suffering 
of  his  wounded  pride,  now  harassed  and  tortured  him,  was  the 
question  of  the  morrow,  the  feverish  longing  to  know  how 
deep  had  been  their  fall,  how  great  the  wreck  and  ruin  sustained 
by  their  world  of  yesterday.  The  Emperor  had  surrendered  his 
sword  to  King  William  ;  was  not,  therefore,  the  abominable 
war  ended  ?  But  he  recalled  the  remark  he  had  heard  made 
by  two  of  the  Bavarians  of  the  guard  who  had  escorted  the 
prisoners  to  Iges  :  "  We're  all  in  France,  we're  all  bound  for 
Paris  !  "  In  his  semi-somnolent,  dreamy  state  the  vision  of  what 
was  to  be  suddenly  rose  before  his  eyes  :  the  empire  over- 
turned and  swept  away  amid  a  howl  of  universal  execration, 
the  republic  proclaimed  with  an  outburst  of  patriotic  fervor, 
while  the  legend  of  '92  would  incite  men  to  emulate  the 
glorious  past,  and,  flocking  to  the  standards,  drive  from  the 
country's  soil  the  hated  foreigner  with  armies  of  brave  volun- 
teers. He  reflected  confusedly  upon  all  the  aspects  of  the  case, 
and  speculations  followed  one  another  in  swift  succession 
through  his  poor  wearied  brain  :  the  harsh  terms  imposed  by 
the  victors,  the  bitterness  of  defeat,  the  determination  of  the 
vanquished  to  resist  even  to  the  last  drop  of  blood,  the  fate  of 
those  eighty  thousand  men,  his  companions,  who  were  to  be 
captives  for  weeks,  months,  years,  perhaps,  first  on  the  penin- 
sula and  afterward  in  German  fortresses.  The  foundations 
were  giving  way,  and  everything  was  going  down,  down  to  the 
bottomless  depths  of  perdition. 

The  call  of  the  sentinels,  now  loud,  now  low,  seemed  to 
sound  more  faintly  in  his  ears  and  to  be  receding  in  the 
distance,  when  suddenly,  as  he  turned  on  his  hard  couch,  a 
shot  rent  the  deep  silence.  A  hollow  groan  rose  on  the  calm 
air  of  night,  there  was  a  splashing  in  the  water,  the  brief  strug- 
gle of  one  who  sinks  to  rise  no  more.  It  was  some  poor  wretch 
who  had  attempted  to  escape  by  swimming  the  Meuse  and  had 
received  a  bullet  in  his  brain. 

The  next  morning  Maurice  was  up  and  stirring  with  the  sun. 
The  sky  was  cloudless  ;  he  was  desirous  to  rejoin  Jean  and  his 
other  comrades  of  the  company  with  the  least  possible  delay. 
For  a  moment  he  had  an  idea  of  going  to  see  what  there  was 


DOWNFALL. 

in  the  interior  of  the  peninsula,  then  resolved  he  would 
first  complete  its  circuit.  And  on  reaching  the  canal  his  eyes 
were  greeted  with  the  sight  of  the  io6th — or  rather  what  was 
left  of  it — a  thousand  men,  encamped  along  the  river  bank  among 
some  waste  lands,  with  no  protection  save  a  row  of  slender  pop- 
lars. If  he  had  only  turned  to  the  left  the  night  before 
instead  of  pursuing  a  straight  course  he  could  have  been  with  his 
regiment  at  once.  And  he  noticed  that  almost  all  the  line  regi- 
ments were  collected  along  that  part  of  the  bank  that  extends 
from  the  Tour  a  Glaire  to  the  Chateau  of  Villette — another 
bourgeois  country  place,  situated  more  in  the  direction  of  Don- 
chery  and  surrounded  by  a  few  hovels — all  of  them  having 
selected  their  bivouac  near  the  bridge,  sole  issue  from  their 
prison,  as  sheep  will  instinctively  huddle  together  close  to  the 
door  of  their  fold,  knowing  that  sooner  or  later  it  will  be  opened 
for  them. 

Jean  uttered  a  cry  of  pleasure.  "Ah,  so  it's  you,  at  last ! 
I  had  begun  to  think  you  were  in  the  river." 

He  was  there  with  what  remained  of  the  squad,  Pache  and 
Lapoulle,  Loubet  and  Chouteau.  The  last  named  had  slept 
under  doorways  in  Sedan  until  the  attention  of  the  Prus- 
sian provost  guard  had  finally  restored  them  to  their  regi- 
ment. The  corporal,  moreover,  was  the  only  surviving  officer 
of  the  company,  death  having  taken  away  Sergeant  Sapin,  Lieu- 
tenant Rochas  and  Captain  Beaudoin,  and  although  the  victors 
had  abolished  distinction  of  rank  among  the  prisoners,  deciding 
that  obedience  was  due  to  the  German  officers  alone,  the  four 
men  had,  nevertheless,  rallied  to  him,  knowing  him  to  be  a  leader 
of  prudence  and  experience,  upon  whom  they  could  rely  in  cir- 
cumstances of  difficulty.  Thus  it  was  that  peace  and  harmony 
reigned  among  them  that  morning,  notwithstanding  the  stupid- 
ity of  some  and  the  evil  designs  of  others.  In  the  first  place, 
the  night  before  he  had  found  them  a  place  to  sleep  in  that  was 
comparatively  dry,  where  they  had  stretched  themselves  on  the 
ground,  the  only  thing  they  had  left  in  the  way  of  protection 
from  the  weather  being  the  half  of  a  shelter-tent.  After 
that  he  had  managed  to  secure  some  wood  and  a  kettle,  in 
which  Loubet  made  coffee  for  them,  the  comforting  warmth 
of  which  had  fortified  their  stomachs.  The  rain  had  ceased, 
the  day  gave  promise  of  being  bright  and  warm,  they  had 
a  small  supply  of  biscuit  and  bacon  left,  and  then,  as  Chou- 
teau said,  it  was  a  comfort  to  have  no  orders  to  obey,  to  have 
their  fill  of  loafing.  They  were  prisoners,  it  was  true,  but  there 


THE  DOWNFALL.  393 

was  plenty  of  room  to  move  about;  Moreover,  they  would  be 
away  from  there  in  two  or  three  days.  Under  these  circum- 
stances the  day,  which  was  Sunday,  the  4th,  passed  pleasantly 
enough. 

Maurice,  whose  courage  had  returned  to  him  now  that  he 
was  with  the  comrades  once  more,  found  nothing  to  annoy  him 
except  the  Prussian  bands,  which  played  all  the  afternoon 
beyond  the  canal.  •  Toward  evening  there  was  vocal  music,  and 
the  men  sang  in  chorus.  They  could  be  seen  outside  the  chain 
of  sentries,  walking  to  and  fro  in  little  groups  and  singing 
solemn  melodies  in  a  loud,  ringing  voice  in  honor  of  the  Sab- 
bath. 

"  Confound  those  bands !  "  Maurice  at  last  impatiently 
exclaimed.  "  They  will  drive  me  wild  !  " 

Jean,  whose  nerves  were  less  susceptible,  shrugged  his 
shoulders. 

" Dame !  they  have  reason  to  feel  good;  and  then  perhaps 
they  think  it  affords  us  pleasure.  It  hasn't  been  such  a  bad 
day  ;  don't  let's  find  fault." 

As  night  approached,  however,  the  rain  began  to  fall  again. 
Some  of  the  men  had  taken  possession  of  what  few  unoccupied 
houses  there  were  on  the  peninsula,  others  were  provided  with 
tents  that  they  erected,  but  by  far  the  greater  number,  without 
shelter  of  any  sort,  destitute  of  blankets  even,  were  compelled 
to  pass  the  night  in  the  open  air,  exposed  to  the  pouring  rain. 

About  one  o'clock  Maurice,  who  had  been  sleeping  soundly 
as  a  result  of  his  fatigue,  awoke  and  found  himself  in  the 
middle  of  a  miniature  lake.  The  trenches,  swollen  by  the 
heavy  ^downpour,  had  overflowed  and  inundated  the  ground 
where  he  lay.  Chouteau's  and  Loubet's  wrath  vented  itself  in 
a  volley  of  maledictions,  while  Pache  shook  Lapoulle,  who, 
unmindful  of  his  ducking,  slept  through  it  all  as  if  he  was 
never  to  wake  again.  Then  jean,  remembering  the  row  of 
poplars  on  the  bank  of  the  canal,  collected  his  little  band  and 
ran  thither  for  shelter ;  and  there  they  passed  the  remainder 
of  that  wretched  night,  crouching  with  their  backs  to  the  trees, 
their  legs  doubled  under  them,  so  as  to  expose  as  little  of  their 
persons  as  might  be  to  the  big  drops. 

The  next  day,  and  the  day  succeeding  it,  the  weather  was 
truly  detestable,  what  with  the  continual  showers,  that  came 
down  so  copiously  and  at  such  frequent  intervals  that  the 
men's  clothing  had  not  time  to  dry  on  their  backs.  They  were 
threatened  with  famine,  too ;  there  was  not  a  biscuit  left  in 


394  THE  DOWNFALL. 

camp,  and  the  coffee  and  bacon  were  exhausted.  During 
those  two  days,  Monday  and  Tuesday,  they  existed  on  potatoes 
that  they  dug  in  the  adjacent  fields,  and  even  those  vegetables 
had  become  so  scarce  toward  the  end  of  the  second  day  that 
those  soldiers  who  had  money  paid  as  high  as  five  sous  apiece 
for  them.  It  was  true  that  the  bugles  sounded  the  call  for 
"  distribution  "  ;  the  corporal  had  nearly  run  his  legs  off  try- 
ing to  be  the  first  to  reach  a  great  shed  near-  the  Tour  a  Glaire, 
where  it  was  reported  that  rations  of  bread  were  to  be  issued, 
but  on  the  occasion  of  a  first  visit  he  had  waited  there  three 
hours  and  gone  away  empty-handed,  and  on  a  second  had 
become  involved  in  a  quarrel  with  a  Bavarian.  It  was  well 
known  that  the  French  officers  were  themselves  in  deep  dis- 
tress and  powerless  to  assist  their  men  ;  had  the  German  staff 
driven  the  vanquished  army  out  there  in  the  mud  and  rain  with 
the  intention  of  letting  them  starve  to  death  ?  Not  the  first 
step  seemed  to  have  been  taken,  not  an  effort  had  been  made, 
to  provide  for  the  subsistence  of  those  eighty  thousand  men  in 
that  hell  on  earth  that  the  soldiers  subsequently  christened 
Camp  Misery,  a  name  that  the  bravest  of  them  could  never 
hear  mentioned  in  later  days  without  a  shudder. 

On  his  return  from  his  wearisome  and  fruitless  expedition 
to  the  shed,  Jean  forgot  his  usual  placidity  and  gave  way  to 
anger. 

"  What  do  they  mean  by  calling  us  up  when  there's  nothing 
for  us  ?  I'll  be  hanged  if  I'll  put  myself  out  for  them  another 
time  !  V 

And  yet,  whenever  there  was  a  call,  he  hurried  off  again 
It  was  inhuman  to  sound  the  bugles  thus,  merely  because 
regulations  prescribed  certain  calls  at  certain  hours,  and  it  had 
another  effect  that  was  near  breaking  Maurice's  heart.  Every 
time  that  the  trumpets  sounded  the  French  horses,  that  were 
running  free  on  the  other  side  of  the  canal,  came  rushing  up 
and  dashed  into  the  water  to  rejoin  their  squadron,  as  excited 
at  the  well-known  sound  as  they  would  be  at  the  touch  of  the 
spur  ;  but  in  their  exhausted  condition  they  were  swept  away 
by  the  current  and  few  attained  the  shore.  It  was  a  cruel 
sight  to  see  their  struggles  ;  they  were  drowned  in  great  num- 
bers, and  their  bodies,  decomposing  and  swelling  in  the  hot 
sunshine,  drifted  on  the  bosom  of  the  canal.  As  for  those  of 
them  that  got  to  land,  they  seemed  as  if  stricken  with  sudden 
madness,  galloping  wildly  off  and  hiding  among  the  waste 
places  of  the  peninsula. 


THE  DOWNFALL.  395 

"  More  bones  for  the  crows  to  pick  ! "  sorrowfully  said 
Maurice,  remembering  the  great  droves  of  horses  that  he  had 
encountered  on  a  previous  occasion.  "  If  we  remain  here 
a  few  days  we  shall  all  be  devouring  one  another.  Poor 
brutes '  " 

The  night  between  Tuesday  and  Wednesday  was  most  terri- 
ble of  all,  and  Jean,  who  was  beginning  to  feel  seriously 
alarmed  for  Maurice's  feverish  state,  made  him  wrap  himself 
in  an  old  blanket  that  they  had  purchased  from  a  zouave  for 
ten  francs,  while  he,  with  no  protection  save  his  water-soaked 
capote,  cheerfully  took  the  drenching  of  the  deluge  which  that 
night  pelted  down  without  cessation.  The',-  position  under 
the  poplars  had  become  untenable  ;  it  was  a  streaming  river 
of  mud,  the  water  rested  in  deep  puddles  on  the  surface  of  the 
saturated  ground.  What  was  worst  oi  all  was  that  they  had  to 
suffer  on  an  empty  stomach,  the  cyr  i^H^lMl  of  the  six  men 
having  consisted  of  two  beets  which  1  ft  been  compelled 
to  eat  raw,  having  no  dry  wood  to  [^ftnPfere  with,  and  the 
sweet  taste  and  refreshing  coolness  of  the  vegetables  had 
quickly  been  succeeded  by  an  intolerable  'burning  sensation. 
Some  cases  of  dysentery  had  appeared  among  the  men,  caused 
by  fatigue,  improper  food  and  the  persistent  humidity  of  the 
atmosphere.  More  than  ten  times  that  night  did  Jean  stretch 
forth  his  hand  to  see  that  Maurice  had  not  uncovered  himself 
in  the  movements  of  his  slumber,  and  thus  he  kept  watch  and 
ward  over  his  friend — his  back  supported  by  the  same  tree- 
trunk,  his  legs  in  a  pool  of  water — with  tenderness  unspeakable. 
Since  the  day  that  on  the  plateau  of  Illy  his  comrade  had 
carried  him  off  in  his  arms  and  saved  him  from  the  Prussians 
he  had  repaid  the  debt  a  hundred-fold.  He  stopped  not  to 
reason  on  it ;  it  was  the  free  gift  of  all  his  being,  the^  total 
forgetfulness  of  self  for  love  of  the  other,  the  finest,  most 
delicate,  grandest  exhibition  of  friendship  possible,  and  that, 
too,  in  a  peasant,  whose  lot  had  always  been  the  lowly  one  of 
a  tiller  of  the  soil  and  who  had  never  risen  far  above  the  earth, 
who  could  not  find  words  to  express  what  he  felt,  acting  purely 
from  instinct,  in  all  simplicity  of  soul.  Many  a  time  already 
he  had  taken  the  food  from  his  mouth,  as  the  men  of  the  squad 
were  wont  to  say  ;  now  he  would  have  divested  himself  of  his 
skin  if  with  it  he  mighc  ^ave  covered  the  other,  to  protect  his 
shoulders,  to  warm  his  feet.  And  in  the  midst  of  the  savage 
egoism  that  surrounded  them,  among  that  aggregation  of 
suffering  humanity  whose  worst  appetites  were  inflamed  and 


39$  THE  DOWNFALL. 

intensified  by  hunger,  he  perhaps  owed  it  to  his  complete 
negation  of  self  that  he  had  preserved  thus  far  his  tranquillity 
of  mind  and  his  vigorous  health,  for  he  among  them  all,  his 
great  strength  unimpaired,  alone  maintained  his  composure  and 
something  like  a  level  head. 

After  that  distressful  night  Jean  determined  to  carry  into 
execution  a  plan  that  he  had  been  reflecting  over  since  the 
day  previous. 

"  See  here,  little  one,  we  can  get  nothing  to  eat,  and  every- 
one seems  to.Jiaye  forgotten  us  here  in  this  beastly  hole  ;  now 
unless  we  want'to,%die  the  death  of  dogs,  it  behooves  us  to  stir 
about  a  bit.  How  are  your  legs  ?  " 

The  sun  had  come  out  again,  fortunately,  and  Maurice  was 
warmed  and  comfoj^d. 

"  Then  we'l(.^HH  f  on  an  exploring  expedition.  We've 
money  in  ^M^^^^HI^ tne  deuce  is  in  it  if  we  can't  find 
something  to  buy?  Ana  we  won't  bother  our  heads  about  the 
others  ;  they  don't  deserve  it.  Let  them  take  care  of  them- 
selves.^ 

The  truth  was  that  Loubet  and  Chouteau  had  disgusted  him 
by  their  triMiness  and  low  selfishness,  stealing  whatever  they 
could  lay  hands  on  and  never  dividing  with  their  comrades, 
while  no  good  was  to  be  got  out  of  Lapoulle,  the  brute,  and 
Pache,  the  sniveling  devotee. 

The  pair,  therefore,  Maurice  and  Jean,  started  out  by  the 
road  along  the  Meuse  which  the  former  had  traversed  once 
before,  on  the  night  of  his  arrival.  At  the  Tour  a  Glaire  the 
park  and  dwelling-house  presented  a  sorrowful  spectacle  of 
pillage  and  devastation,  the  trim  lawns  cut  up  and  destroyed, 
the  trees  felled,  the  mansion  dismantled.  A  ragged,  dirty  crew 
of  soldiers,  with  hollow  cheeks  and  eyes  preternaturally  bright 
from  fever,  had  taken  possession  of  the  place  and  were  living 
like  beasts  in  the  filthy  chambers,  not  daring  to  leave  their 
quarters  for  a  moment  lest  someone  else  might  come  along  and 
occupy  them.  A  little  further  on  they  passed  the  cavalry 
and  artillery,  encamped  on  the  hillsides,  once  so  conspicuous 
by  reason  of  the  neatness  and  jauntiness  of  their  appearance, 
now  run  to  seed  like  all  the  rest,  their  organization  gone,  de- 
moralized by  that  terrible,  torturing  hunger  that  drove  the 
horses  wild  and  sent  the  men  straggling  through  the  fields  in 
plundering  bands.  Below  them,  to  the  right,  they  beheld  an 
apparently  interminable  line  of  artillerymen  and  chasseurs 


•TlfE  DOWNFALL.  397 

d'Afrique  defiling  slowly  before  the  mill  ;  the  miller  was  selling 
them  flour,  measuring  out  two  handfuls  into  their  handker- 
chiefs for  a  franc.  The  prospect  of  the  long  wait  that  lay  be- 
fore them,  should  they  take  their  place  at  the  end  of  the  line, 
determined  them  to  pass  on,  in  the  hope  that  some  better 
opportunity  would  present  itself  at  the  village  of  Iges;  but 
great  was  their  consternation  when  they  reached  it  to  find  the 
little  place  as  bare  and  empty  as  an  Algerian  village  through 
which  has  passed  a  swarm  of  locusts  ;  not  a  crumb,  not  a 
fragment  of  anything  eatable,  neither  bread,  nor  meat,  nor 
vegetables,  the  wretched  inhabitants  utterly  destitute.  General 
Lebrun  was  said  to  be  there,  closeted  with  the  mayor.  He  had 
been  endeavoring,  ineffectually,  to  arrange  for  an  issue  of 
bonds,  redeemable  at  the  close  of  the  war,  in  order  to  facilitate 
the  victualing  of  the  troops.  Money  had  ceased  to  have  any 
value  when  there  was  nothing  that  it  could  purchase.  The 
day  before  two  francs  had  been  paid  for  a  biscuit,  seven 
francs  for  a  bottle  of  wine,  a  small  glass  of  brandy  was  twenty 
sous,  a  pipeful  of  tobacco  ten  sous.  And  now  officers,  sword 
in  hand,  had  to  stand  guard  before  the  general's  house  and 
the  neighboring  hovels,  for  bands  of  marauders  were  constantly 
passing,  breaking  down  doors  and  stealing  even  the  oil  from 
the  lamps  and  drinking  it. 

Three  zouaves  invited  Maurice  and  Jean  to  join  them. 
Five  would  do  the  work  more  effectually  than  three. 

"  Come  along.  There  are  horses  dying  in  plenty,  and  if  we 
can  but  get  some  dry  wood " 

Then  they  fell  to  work  on  the  miserable  cabin  of  a  poor 
peasant,  smashing  the  closet  doors,  tearing  the  thatch  from  the 
roof.  Some  officers,  who  came  up  on  a  run,  threatened  them 
with  their  revolvers  and  put  them  to  flight. 

Jean,  who  saw  that  the  few  villagers  who  had  remained  at 
Iges  were  no  better  off  than  the  soldiers,  perceived  he  had 
made  a  mistake  in  passing  the  mill  without  buying  some  flour. 

"  There  may  be  some  left ;  we  had  best  go  back." 

But  Maurice  was  so  reduced  from  inanition  and  was  beginning 
to  suffer  so  from  fatigue  that  he  left  him  behind  in  a  sheltered 
nook  among  the  quarries,  seated  on  a  fragment  of  rock,  his  face 
turned  upon  the  wide  horizon  of  Sedan.  He,  after  waiting  in 
line  for  two  long  hours,  finally  returned  with  some  flour  wrapped 
in  a  piece  of  rag.  And  they  ate  it  uncooked,  dipping  it  up  in 
their  hands,  unable  to  devise  any  other  way.  It  was  not  so 
very  bad  ;  it  had  no  particular  flavor,  only  the  insipid  taste  of 


THE  DOWNFALL, 

dough.  Their  breakfast,  such  as  it  was,  did  them  some  good, 
however.  They  were  even  so  fortunate  as  to  discover  a  little 
pool  of  rain-water,  comparatively  pure,  in  a  hollow  of  a  rock,  at 
which  they  quenched  their  thirst  with  great  satisfaction. 

But  when  Jean  proposed  that  they  should  spend  the  re- 
mainder of  the  afternoon  there,  Maurice  negatived  the  motion 
with  a  great  display  of  violence. 

"  No,  no ;  not  here  !  I  should  be  ill  if  I  were  to  have  that 

scene  before  my  eyes  for  any  length  of  time "  With  a  hand 

that  trembled  he  pointed  to  the  remote  horizon,  the  hill  of 
Hattoy,  the  plateaux  of  Floing  and  Illy,  the  wood  of  la  Garenne, 
those  abhorred,  detested  fields  of  slaughter  and  defeat. 
"While  you  were  away  just  now  I  was  obliged  to  turn 
my  back  on  it,  else  I  should  have  broken  out  and  howled 
with  rage.  Yes,  I  should  have  howled  like  a  dog  tormented 
by  boys — you  can't  imagine  how  it  hurts  me  ;  it  drives  me 
crazy  !  " 

Jean  looked  at  him  in  surprise  ;  he  could  not  understand 
that  pride,  sensitive  as  a  raw  sore,  that  made  defeat  so  bitter  to 
him  ;  he  was  alarmed  to  behold  in  his  eyes  that  wandering, 
flighty  look  that  he  had  seen  there  before.  He  affected  to 
treat  the  matter  lightly. 

"  Good !  we'll  seek  another  country  ;  that's  easy  enough  to 
do." 

Then  they  wandered  as  long  as  daylight  lasted,  wherever  the 
paths  they  took  conducted  them.  They  visited  the  level  por- 
tion of  the  peninsula  in  the  hope  of  finding  more  potatoes 
there,  but  the  artillerymen  had  obtained  a  plow  and  turned  up 
the  ground,  and  not  a  single  potato  had  escaped  their  sharp 
eyes.  They  retraced  their  steps,  and  again  they  passed 
through  throngs  of  listless,  glassy-eyed,  starving  soldiers,  strew- 
ing the  ground  with  their  debilitated  forms,  falling  by  hun- 
dreds in  the  bright  sunshine  from  sheer  exhaustion.  They 
were  themselves  many  times  overcome  by  fatigue  and  forced 
to  sit  down  and  rest  ;  then  their  deep-seated  sensation  of 
suffering  would  bring  them  to  their  feet  again  and  they  would 
recommence  their  wandering,  like  animals  impelled  by  instinct 
to  move  on  perpetually  in  quest  of  pasturage.  It  seemed  to 
them  to  last  for  years,  and  yet  the  moments  sped  by  rapidly. 
In  the  more  inland  region,  over  Donchery  way,  they  received 
a  fright  from  the  horses  and  sought  the  protection  of  a  wall, 
where  they  remained  a  long  time,  too  exhausted  to  rise,  watch- 
tig  with  vague,  lack-luster  eyes  the  wild  course  of  the  crazed 


THE  DOWNFALL.  399 

beasts  as  they  raced  athwart  the  red  western  sky  where  the  sun 
was  sinking. 

As  Maurice  had  foreseen,  the  thousands  of  horses  that 
shared  the  captivity  of  the  army,  and  for  which  it  was  impossi- 
ble to  provide  forage,  constituted  a  peril  that  grew  greater  day 
by  day.  At  first  they  had  nibbled  the  vegetation  and  gnawed 
the  bark  off  trees,  then  had  attacked  the  fences  and  whatever 
wooden  structures  they  came  across,  and  now  they  seemed 
ready  to  devour  one  another.  It  was  a  frequent  occurrence  to 
see  one  of  them  throw  himself  upon  another  and  tear  out  great 
tufts  from  his  mane  or  tail,  which  he  would  grind  between  his 
teeth,  slavering  meanwhile  at  the  mouth  profusely.  But  it  was 
at  night  that  they  became  most  terrible,  as  if  they  were  visited 
by  visions  of  terror  in  the  darkness.  They  collected  in  droves, 
and,  attracted  by  the  straw,  made  furious  rushes  upon  what 
few  tents  there  were,  overturning  and  demolishing  them.  It 
was  to  no  purpose  that  the  men  built  great  fires  to  keep  them 
away ;  the  device  only  served  to  madden  them  the  more. 
Their  shrill  cries  were  so  full  of  anguish,  so  dreadful  to  the 
ear,  that  they  might  have  been  mistaken  for  the  howls  of  wild 
beasts.  Were  they  driven  away,  they  returned,  more  numerous 
and  fiercer  than  before.  Scarce  a  moment  passed  but  out  in 
the  darkness  could  be  heard  the  shriek  of  anguish  of  some 
unfortunate  soldier  whom  the  crazed  beasts  had  crushed  in 
their  wild  stampede. 

The  sun  was  still  above  the  horizon  when  Jean  and  Maurice, 
on  their  way  back  to  the  camp,  were  astonished  by  meeting 
with  the  four  men  of  the  squad,  lurking  in  a  ditch,  apparently 
for  no  good  purpose.  Loubet  hailed  them  at  once,  and  Chou- 
teau  constituted  himself  spokesman  : 

"We  are  considering  ways  and  means  for  dining  this  even- 
ing. We  shall  die  if  we  go  on  this  way  ;  it  is  thirty-six  hours 
since  we  have  had  anything  to  put  in  our  stomach — so,  as 
there  are  horses  plenty,  and  horse-meat  isn't  such  bad  eat- 
ing  " 

"You'll  join  us,  won't  you,  corporal?"  said  Loubet,  inter- 
rupting, "  for,  with  such  a  big,  strong  animal  to  handle,  the 
more  of  us  there  are  the  better  it  will  be.  See,  there  is  one, 
off  yonder,  that  we've  been  keeping  an  eye  on  for  the  last  hour; 
that  big  bay  that  is  in  such  a  bad  way.  He'll  be  all  the  easier 
to  finish." 

And  he  pointed  to  a  horse  that  was  dying  of  starvation,  on 
the  edge  of  what  had  once  been  a  field  of  beets,  He  had 


400  THE  DOWNFALL. 

fallen  on  his  flank,  and  every  now  and  then  would  raise  his 
head  and  look  about  him  pleadingly,  with  a  deep  inhalation 
that  sounded  like  a  sigh. 

"  Ah,  how  long  we  have  to  wait  !  "  grumbled  Lapoulle,  who 
was  suffering  torment  from  his  fierce  appetite.  "  I'll  go  and 
kill  him— shall  I  ?  " 

But  Loubet  stopped  him.  Much  obliged  !  and  have  the 
Prussians  down  on  them,  who  ^had  given  notice  that  death, 
would  be  the  penalty  for  killing  a  horse,  fearing  that  the  car- 
cass would  breed  a  pestilence.  They  must  wait  until  it  was 
dark.  And  that  was  the  reason  why  the  four  men  were  lurking 
in  the  ditch,  waiting,  with  glistening,  hungry  eyes  fixed  on  the 
dying  brute. 

"  Corporal,"  asked  Pache,  in  a  voice  that  faltered  a  little, 
"  you  have  lots  of  ideas  in  your  head  ;  couldn't  you  kill  him 
painlessly?" 

Jean  refused  the  cruel  task  with  a  gesture  of  disgust.  What, 
kill  that  poor  beast  that  was  even  then  in  its  death  agony !  oh, 
no,  no  !  His  first  impulse  had  been  to  fly  and  take  Maurice 
with  him,  that  neither  of  them  might  be  concerned  in  the  re- 
volting butchery  ;  but  looking  at  his  companion  and  beholding 
him  so  pale  and  faint,  he  reproached  himself  for  such  an  excess  of 
sensibility.  What  were  animals  created  for  after  all,  mon  Dieuy 
unless  to  afford  sustenance  to  man  !  They  could  not  allow 
themselves  to  starve  when  there  was  food  within  reach.  And 
it  rejoiced  him  to  see  Maurice  cheer  up  a  little  at  the  prospect 
of  eating  ;  he  said  in  his  easy,  good-natured  way  : 

"  Faith,  you're  wrong  there  ;  I've  no  ideas  in  my  head,  and 
if  he  has  got  to  be  killed  without  pain " 

"  Oh  !  that'  s  all  one  to  me,"  interrupted  Lapoulle.  "  I'll 
show  you." 

The  two  newcomers  seated  themselves  in  the  ditch  and 
joined  the  others  in  their  expectancy.  Now  and  again  one  of  the 
men  would  rise  and  make  certain  that  the  horse  was  still  there, 
its  neck  outstretched  to  catch  the  cool  exhalations  of  the  Meuse 
and  the  last  rays  of  the  setting  sun,  as  if  bidding  farewell  to 
life.  And  when  at  last  twilight  crept  slowly  o'er  the  scene  the 
six  men  were  erect  upon  their  feet,  impatient  that  night  was  so 
tardy  in  its  coming,  casting  furtive,  frightened  looks  about 
them  to  see  they  were  not  observed. 

"Ah,  zut!"  exclaimed  Chouteau,  "the  time  is  come  !" 

Objects  were  still  discernible  in  the  fields  by  the  uncertain, 
mysterious  light  "between  dog  and  wolf,"  and  Lapoulle  went 


THE  DOWNFALL.  401 

forward  first,  followed  by  the  five  others.  He  had  taken  from 
the  ditch  a  large,  rounded  bowlder,  and,  with  it  in  his  two 
brawny  hands,  rushing  upon  the  horse,  commenced  to  batter  at 
his  skull  as  with  a  club.  At  the  second  blow,  however,  the 
horse,  stung  by  the  pain,  attempted  to  get  on  his  feet.  Chou- 
teau  and  Loubet  had  thrown  themselves  across  his  legs  and 
were  endeavoring  to  hold  him  down,  shouting  to  the  others  to 
help  them.  The  poor  brute's  cries  were  almost  human  in  their 
accent  of  terror  and  distress  ;  he  struggled  desperately  to  shake 
off  his  assailants,  and  would  have  broken  them  like  a  reed  had 
he  not  been  half  dead  with  inanition.  The  movements  of  his 
head  prevented  the  blows  from  taking  effect  ;  Lapoulle  was 
unable  to  despatch  him. 

"  Nom  de  Dieu  !  how  hard  his  bones  are  !  Hold  him,  some- 
body, until  I  finish  him." 

Jean  and  Maurice  stood  looking  at  the  scene  in  silent  horror ; 
they  heard  not  Chouteau's  appeals  for  assistance  ;  were  power- 
less to  raise  a  hand.  And  Pache,  in  a  sudden  outburst  of  piety 
and  pity,  dropped  on  his  knees,  joined  his  hands,  and  began 
to  mumble  the  prayers  that  are  repeated  at  the  bedside  of  the 
dying. 

"  Merciful  God,  have  pity  on  him.  Let  him,  good  Lord, 
depart  in  peace " 

Again  Lapoulle  struck  ineffectually,  with  no  other  effect  than 
to  destroy  an  ear  of  the  wretched  creature,  that  threw  back  its 
head  and  gave  utterance  to  a  loud,  shrill  scream. 

"Hold  on  !"  growled  Chouteau  ;  "  this  won't  do  ;  he'll  get 
us  all  in  the  lockup.  We  must  end  the  matter.  Hold  him 
fast,  Loubet." 

He  took  from  his  pocket  a  penknife,  a  small  affair  of  which 
the  blade  was  scarcely  longer  than  a  man's  finger,  and  casting 
himself  prone  on  the  animal's  body  and  passing  an  arm  about 
its  neck,  began  to  hack  away  at  the  live  flesh,  cutting  away 
great  morsels,  until  he  found  and  severed  the  artery.  Pie 
leaped  quickly  to  one  side  ;  the  blood  spirted  forth  in  a  tor- 
rent, as  when  the  plug  is  removed  from  a  fountain,  while  the 
feet  stirred  feebly  and  convulsive  movements  ran  along  the 
skin,  succeeding  one  another  like  waves  of  the  sea.  It  was 
near  five  minutes  before  the  horse  was  dead.  His  great  eyes, 
dilated  wide  and  filled  with  melancholy  and  affright,  were  fixed 
upon  the  wan-visaged  men  who  stood  waiting  for  him  to  die  ; 
then  they  grew  dim  and  the  light  died  from  out  them. 

"  Merciful  God,"  muttered  Pache,  still  on  his  knees,  "  keep 


4°2  THE  DOWNFALL. 

him  in  thy  holy  protection — succor  him,  Lord,  and  grant  him 
eternal  rest." 

Afterward,  when  the  creature's  movements  had  ceased,  they 
were  at  a  loss  to  know  where  the  best  cut  lay  and  how  they 
were  to  get  at  it.  Loubet,  who  was  something  of  a  Jack-of-all- 
trades,  showed  them  what  was  to  be  done  in  order  to  secure 
the  loin,  but  as  he  was  a  tyro  at  the  butchering  business  and, 
moreover,  had  only  his  small  penknife  to  work  with,  he  quickly 
lost  his  way  amid  the  warm,  quivering  flesh.  And  Lapoulle, 
in  his  impatience,  having  attempted  to  be  of  assistance  by 
making  an  incision  in  the  belly,  for  which  there  was  no  neces- 
sity whatever,  the  scene  of  bloodshed  became  truly  sickening. 
They  wallowed  in  the  gore  and  entrails  that  covered  the  ground 
about  them,  like  a  pack  of  ravening  wolves  collected  around 
the  carcass  of  their  prey,  fleshing  their  keen  fangs  in  it. 

"  I  don't  know  what  cut  that  may  be,"  Loubet  said  at  last, 
rising  to  his  feet  with  a  huge  lump  of  meat  in  his  hands,  "  but 
by  the  time  we've  eaten  it,  I  don't  believe  any  of  us  will  be 
hungry." 

Jean  and  Maurice  had  averted  their  eyes  in  horror  from  the 
disgusting  spectacle  ;  still,  however,  the  pangs  of  hunger  were 
gnawing  at  their  vitals,  and  when  the  band  slunk  rapidly  away, 
so  as  not  to  be  caught  in  the  vicinity  of  the  incriminating 
carcass,  they  followed  it.  Chouteau  had  discovered  three  large 
beets,  that  had  somehow  been  overlooked  by  previous  visitors 
to  the  field,  and  carried  them  off  with  him.  Loubet  had  loaded 
the  meat  on  Lapoulle's  shoulders  so  as  to  have  his  own  arms 
free,  while  Pache  carried  the  kettle  that  belonged  to  the  squad, 
which  they  had  brought  with  them  on  the  chance  of  finding 
something  to  cook  in  it.  And  the  six  men  ran  as  if  their  lives 
were  at  stake,  never  stopping  to  take  breath,  as  if  they  heard 
the  pursuers  at  their  heels. 

Suddenly  Loubet  brought  the  others  to  a  halt. 

"  It's  idiotic  to  run  like  this  ;  let's  decide  where  we'shall  go 
to  cook  the  stuff." 

Jean,  who  was  beginning  to  recover  his  self-possession,  pro- 
posed the  quarries.  They  were  only  three  hundred  yards  dis- 
tant, and  in  them  were  secret  recesses  in  abundance  where  they 
could  kindle  a  fire  without  being  seen.  When  they  reached 
the  spot,  however,  difficulties  of  every  description  presented 
themselves.  First,  there  was  the  question  of  wood;  fortunately 
a  laborer,  who  had  been  repairing  the  road,  had  gone  home  and 
left  his  wheelbarrow  behind  him  ;  Lapoulle  quickly  reduced  it 


THE  DOWNFALL.  4°3 

to  fragments  with  the  heel  of  his  boot.  Then  there  was  no 
water  to  be  had  that  was  fit  to  drink  ;  the  hot  sunshine  had 
dried  up  all  the  pools  of  rain-water.  True  there  was  a  pump  at 
the  Tour  a  Glaire,  but  that  was  too  far  away,  and  besides  it 
was  never  accessible  before  midnight ;  the  men  forming  in  long 
lines  with  their  bowls  and  porringers,  only  too  happy  when, 
after  waiting  for  hours,  they  could  escape  from  the  jam  with 
their  supply  of  the  precious  fluid  unspilled.  As  for  the  few 
wells  in  the  neighborhood,  they  had  been  dry  for  the  last  two 
days,  and  the  bucket  brought  up  nothing  save  mud  and  slime. 
Their  sole  resource  appeared  to  be  the  water  of  the  Meuse, 
which  was  parted  from  them  by  the  road. 

"  I'll  take  the  kettle  and  go  and  fill  it,"  said  Jean. 

The  others  objected. 

"  No,  no  !  We  don't  want  to  be  poisoned  ;  it  is  full  of  dead 
bodies !  " 

They  spoke  the  truth.  The  Meuse  was  constantly  bringing 
down  corpses  of  men  and  horses  ;  they  could  be  seen  floating 
with  the  current  at  any  moment  of  the  day,  swollen  and  of  a 
greenish  hue,  in  the  early  stages  of  decomposition.  Often  they 
were  caught  in  the  weeds  and  bushes  on  the  bank,  where  they 
remained  to  poison  the  atmosphere,  swinging  to  the  tide  with  a 
gentle,  tremulous  motion  that  imparted  to  them  a  semblance  of 
life.  Nearly  every  soldier  who  had  drunk  that  abominable 
water  had  suffered  from  nausea  and  colic,  often  succeeded 
afterward  by  dysentery.  It  seemed  as  if  they  must  make  up 
their  mind  to  use  it,  however,  as  there  was  no  other  ;  Maurice 
explained  that  there  would  be  no  danger  in  drinking  it  after  it 
was  boiled. 

"  Very  well,  then  ;  I'll  go,"  said  Jean.  And  he  started,  tak- 
ing Lapoulle  with  him  to  carry  the  kettle. 

By  the  time  they  got  the  kettle  filled  and  on  the  fire  it  was 
quite  dark.  Loubet  had  peeled  the  beets  and  thrown  them  into 
the  water  to  cook — a  feast  fit  for  the  gods,  he  declared  it  would 
be— and  fed  the  fire  with  fragments  of  the  wheelbarrow,  for  they 
were  all  suffering  so  from  hunger  that  they  could  have  eaten 
the  meat  before  the  pot  began  to  boil.  Their  huge  shadows 
danced  fantastically  in  the  firelight  on  the  rocky  walls  of  the 
quarry.  Then  they  found  it  impossible  longer  to  restrain  their 
appetite,  and  threw  themselves  upon  the  unclean  mess,  tearing 
the  flesh  with  eager,  trembling  fingers  and  dividing  it  among 
them,  too  impatient  even  to  make  use  of  the  knife.  But,  fam- 
ishing as  they  were,  their  stomachs  revolted  ;  they  felt  the  want 


404  THE  DOWNFALL. 

of  salt,  they  could  not  swallow  that  tasteless,  sickening  broth, 
those  chunks  of  half-cooked,  viscid  meat  that  had  a  taste  like 
clay.  Some  among  them  had  a  fit  of  vomiting.  Pache  was 
very  ill.  Chouteau  and  Loubet  heaped  maledictions  on  that 
infernal  old  nag,  that  had  caused  them  such  trouble  to  get  him 
to  the  pot  and  then  given  them  the  colic.  Lapoulle  was  the 
only  one  among  them  who  ate  abundantly,  but  he  was  in  a  very 
bad  way  that  night  when,  with  his  three  comrades,  he  returned 
to  their  resting-place  under  the  poplars  by  the  canal. 

On  their  way  back  to  camp  Maurice,  without  uttering  a  word, 
took  advantage  of  the  darkness  to  seize  Jean  by  the  arm  and 
drag  him  into  a  by-path.  Their  comrades  inspired  him  with 
unconquerable  disgust  ;  he  thought  he  should  like  to  go  and 
sleep  in  the  little  wood  where  he  had  spent  his  first  night  on 
the  peninsula.  It  was  a  good  idea,  and  Jean  commended  it 
highly  when  he  had  laid  himself  down  on  the  warm,  dry 
ground,  under  the  shelter  of  the  dense  foliage.  They  remained 
there  until  the  sun  was  high  in  the  heavens,  and  enjoyed  a 
sound,  refreshing  slumber,  which  restored  to  them  something  of 
their  strength. 

The  following  day  was  Thursday,  but  they  had  ceased  to 
note  the  days  ;  they  were  simply  glad  to  observe  that  the 
weather  seemed  to  be  coming  off  fine  again.  Jean  overcame 
Maurice's  repugnance  and  prevailed  on  him  to  return  to  the 
canal,  to  see  if  their  regiment  was  not  to  move  that  day.  Not 
a  day  passed  now  but  detachments  of  prisoners,  a  thousand  to 
twelve  hundred  strong,  were  sent  off  to  the  fortresses  in  Ger- 
many. The  day  but  one  before  they  had  seen,  drawn  up  in 
front  of  the  Prussian  headquarters,  a  column  of  officers  of 
various  grades,  who  were  going  to  Pont-a-Mousson,  there  to 
take  the  railway.  Everyone  was  possessed  with  a  wild,  fever- 
ish longing  to  get  away  from  that  camp  where  they  had  seen 
such  suffering.  Ah  !  if  it  but  might  be  their  turn  !  And 
when  they  found  the  io6th  still  encamped  on  the  bank  of  the 
canal,  in  the  inevitable  disorder  consequent  upon  such  distress, 
their  courage  failed  them  and  they  despaired. 

Jean  and  Maurice  that  day  thought  they  saw  a  prospect  of 
obtaining  something  to  eat.  All  the  morning  a  lively  traffic 
had  been  going  on  between  the  prisoners  and  the  Bavarians  on 
the  other  side  of  the  canal ;  the  former  would  wrap  their  money 
in  a  handkerchief  and  toss  it  across  to  the  opposite  shore,  the 
latter  would  return  the  handkerchief  with  a  loaf  of  coarse 
brown  bread,  or  a  plug  of  their  common,  damp  tobacco.  Even 


THE  DOWNFALL.  4°5 

soldiers  who  had  no  money  were  not  debarred  from  participat- 
ing in  this  commerce,  employing,  instead  of  currency,  their 
white  uniform  gloves,  for  which  the  Germans  appeared  to  have 
a  weakness.  For  two  hours  packages  were  flying  across  the 
canal  in  its  entire  length  under  this  primitive  system  of  ex- 
changes. But  when  Maurice  dispatched  his  cravat  with  a  five- 
franc  piece  tied  in  it  to  the  other  bank,  the  Bavarian  who  was 
to  return  him  a  loaf  of  bread  gave  it,  whether  from  awkward- 
ness or  malice,  such  an  ineffectual  toss  that  it  fell  in  the  water. 
The  incident  elicited  shouts  of  laughter  from  the  Germans. 
Twice  again  Maurice  repeated  the  experiment,  and  twice  his 
loaf  went  to  feed  the  fishes.  At  last  the  Prussian  officers,  at- 
tracted by  the  uproar,  came  running  up  and  prohibited  their 
men  from  selling  anything  to  the  prisoners,  threatening  them 
with  dire  penalties  and  punishments  in  case  of  disobedience. 
The  traffic  came  to  a  sudden  end,  and  Jean  had  hard  work  to 
pacify  Maurice,  who  shook  his  fists  at  the  scamps,  shouting  to 
them  to  give  him  back  his  five-franc  pieces. 

This  was  another  terrible  day,  notwithstanding  the  warm, 
bright  sunshine.  Twice  the  bugle  sounded  and  sent  Jean 
hurrying  off  to  the  shed  whence  rations  were  supposed  to  be  is- 
sued, but  on  each  occasion  he  only  got  his  toes  trod  on  and  his 
ribs  racked  in  the  crush.  The  Prussians,  whose  organization 
was  so  wonderfully  complete,  continued  to  manifest  the  same 
brutal  inattention  to  the  necessities  of  the  vanquished  army. 
On  the  representations  of  Generals  Douay  and  Lebrun,  they  had 
indeed  sent  in  a  few  sheep  as  well  as  some  wagon-loads  of 
bread,  but  so  little  care  was  taken  to  guard  them  that  the  sheep 
were  carried  off  bodily  and  the  wagons  pillaged  as  soon  as  they 
reached  the  bridge,  the  consequence  of  which  was  that  the 
troops  who  were  encamped  a  hundred  yards  further  on  were  no 
better  off  than  before ;  it  was  only  the  worst  element,  the 
plunderers  and  bummers,  who  benefited  by  the  provision  trains. 
And  thereon  Jean,  who,  as  he  said,  saw  how  the  trick  was  done, 
brought  Maurice  with  him  to  the  bridge  to  keep  an  eye  on  the 
victuals. 

It  was  four  o'clock,  and  they  had  not  had  a  morsel  to  eat  all 
that  beautiful  bright  Thursday,  when  suddenly  their  eyes  were 
gladdened  by  the  sight  of  Delaherche.  A  few  among  the  citizens 
of  Sedan  had  with  infinite  difficulty  obtained  permission  to 
visit  the  prisoners,  to  whom  they  carried  provisions,  and  Mau- 
rice had  on  several  occasions  expressed  his  surprise  at  his 
failure  to  receive  any  tidings  of  his  sister.  As  soon  as  they  re- 


400  THE  DOWNFALL. 

cognized  Delaherche  in  the  distance,  carrying  a  large  basket 
and  with  a  loaf  of  bread  under  either  arm,  they  darted  forward 
fast  as  their  legs  could  carry  them,  but  even  thus  they  were  too 
late;  a  crowding,  jostling  mob  closed  in,  and  in  the  confusion 
the  dazed  manufacturer  was  relieved  of  his  basket  and  one  of 
his  loaves,  which  vanished  from  his  sight  so  expeditiously  that 
he  was  never  able  to  tell  the  manner  of  their  disappearance. 

"  Ah,  my  poor  friends  ! "  he  stammered,  utterly  crestfallen 
in  his  bewilderment  and  stupefaction,  he  who  but  a  moment  be- 
fore had  come  through  the  gate  with  a  smile  on  his  lips  and  an 
air  of  good-fellowship,  magnanimously  forgetting  his  superior 
advantages  in  his  desire  for  popularity. 

Jean  had  taken  possession  of  the  remaining  loaf  and  saved  it 
from  the  hungry  crew,  and  while  he  and  Maurice,  seated  by 
the  roadside,  were  making  great  inroads  in  it,  Delaherche 
opened  his  budget  of  news  for  their  benefit.  His  wife,  the  Lord 
be  praised !  was  very  well,  but  he  was  greatly  alarmed  for  the 
colonel,  who  had  sunk  into  a  condition  of  deep  prostration, 
although  his  mother  continued  to  bear  him  company  from 
morning  until  night. 

"And  my  sister?"  Maurice  inquired. 

"Ah,  yes  !  your  sister;  true.  She.  insisted  on  coming  with 
me  ;  it  was  she  who  brought  the  two  loaves  of  bread.  She  had 
to  remain  over  yonder,  though,  on  the  other  side  of  the  canal ; 
the  sentries  wouldn't  let  her  pass  the  gate.  You  know  the 
Prussians  have  strictly  prohibited  the  presence  of  women  in  the 
peninsula." 

Then  he  spoke  of  Henriette,  and  of  her  fruitless  attempts  to 
see  her  brother  and  come  to  his  assistance.  Once  in  Sedan 
chance  had  brought  her  face  to  face  with  Cousin  Gunther,  the 
man  who  was  captain  in  the  Prussian  Guards.  He  had  passed 
her  with  his  haughty,  supercilious  air,  pretending  not  to  recog- 
nize her.  She,  also,  with  a  sensation  of  loathing,  as  if  she  were 
in  the  presence  of  one  of  her  husband's  murderers,  had  hurried 
on  with  quickened  steps  ;  then,  with  a  sudden  change  of  pur- 
pose for  which  she  could  not  account,  had  turned  back 
and  told  him  all  the  manner  of  Weiss's  death,  in  harsh  accents 
of  reproach.  And  he,  thus  learning  how  horribly  a  relative 
had  met  his  fate,  had  taken  the  matter  coolly  ;  it  was  the  for- 
tune of  war  ;  the  same  thing  might  have  happened  to  himself. 
His  face,  rendered  stoically  impassive  by  the  discipline  of  the 
soldier,  had  barely  betrayed  the  faintest  evidence  of  interest 
After  that,  when  she  informed  him  that  her  brother  was  a 


THE  DOWNFALL.  407 

prisoner  and  besought  him  to  use  his  influence  to  obtain  for 
her  an  opportunity  of  seeing  him,  he  had  excused  himself  on 
the  ground  that  he  was  powerless  in  the  matter ;  the  instruc- 
tions were  explicit  and  might  not  be  disobeyed.  He  appeared 
to  place  the  regimental  orderly  book  on  a  par  with  the  Bible. 
She  left  him  with  the  clearly  defined  impression  that  he 
believed  he  was  in  the  country  for  the  sole  purpose  of  sitting 
in  judgment  on  the  French  people,  with  all  the  intolerance  and 
arrogance  of  the  hereditary  enemy,  swollen  by  his  personal 
hatred  for  the  nation  whom  it  had  devolved  on  him  to  chas- 
tise. 

"And  now,"  said  Delaherche  in  conclusion,  "you  won't  have 
to  go  to  bed  supperless  to-night ;  you  have  had  a  little  some- 
thing to  eat.  The  worst  is  that  I  am  afraid  I  shall  not  be  able 
to  secure  another  pass." 

He  asked  them  if  there  was  anything  he  could  do  for  them 
outside,  and  obligingly  consented  to  take  charge  of  some 
pencil-written  letters  confided  to  him  by  other  soldiers,  for  the 
Bavarians  had  more  than  once  been  seen  to  laugh  as  they 
lighted  their  pipes  with  missives  which  they  had  promised  to  for- 
ward. Then,  when  Jean  and  Maurice  had  accompanied  him 
to  the  gate,  he  exclaimed  : 

"Look  !  over  yonder,  there's  Henriette  !  Don't  you  see  her 
waving  her  handkerchief  ?" 

True  enough,  among  the  crowd  beyond  the  line  of  sentinels 
they  distinguished  a  little,  thin,  pale  face,  a  white  dot  that 
trembled  in  the  sunshine.  Both  were  deeply  affected,  and, 
with  moist  eyes,  raising  their  hands  above  their  head,  answered 
her  salutation  by  waving  them  frantically  in  the  air. 

The  following  day  was  Friday,  and  it  was  then  that  Maurice 
felt  that  his  cup  of  horror  was  full  to  overflowing.  After  an- 
other night  of  tranquil  slumber  in  the  little  wood  he  was  so 
fortunate  as  to  secure  another  meal,  Jean  having  come  across 
an  old  woman  at  the  Chateau  of  Villette  who  was  selling  bread 
at  ten  francs  the  pound.  But  that  day  they  witnessed  a  spec- 
tacle of  which  the  horror  remained  imprinted  on  their  minds 
for  many  weeks  and  months. 

The  day  before  Chouteau  had  noticed  that  Pache  had  ceased 
complaining  and  was  going  about  with  a  careless,  satisfied  air, 
as  a  man  might  do  who  had  dined  well.  He  immediately 
lumped  at  the  conclusion  that  the  sly  fox  must  have  a  con- 
cealed treasure  somewhere,  the  more  so  that  he  had  seen  him 
absent  himself  for  near  an  hour  that  morning  and  come  back 


408  THE  DOWNFALL. 

with  a  smile  lurking  on  his  face  and  his  mouth  filled  with  un« 
swallowed  food.  It  must  be  that  he  had  had  a  windfall,  had 
probably  joined  some  marauding  party  and  laid  in  a  stock  of 
provisions.  And  Chouteau  labored  with  Loubet  and  Lapoulle 
to  stir  up  bad  feeling  against  the  comrade,  with  the  latter  more 
particularly.  Hein  !  wasn't  he  a  dirty  dog,  if  he  had  something 
to  eat,  not  to  go  snacks  with  the  comrades  !  He  ought  to  have 
a  lesson  that  he  would  remember,  for  his  selfishness. 

"  To-night  we'll  keep  a  watch  on  him,  don't  you  see.  We'll 
learn  whether  he  dares  to  stuff  himself  on  the  sly,  when  so  many 
poor  devils  are  starving  all  around  him." 

"  Yes,  yes,  that's  the  talk  !  we'll  follow  him,"  Lapoulle 
angrily  declared.  "  We'll  see  about  it !  " 

He  doubled  his  fists  ;  he  was  like  a  crazy  man  whenever  the 
subject  of  eating  was  mentioned  in  his  presence.  His  enor- 
mous appetite  caused  him  to  suffer  more  than  the  others  ;  his 
torment  at  times  was  such  that  he  had  been  known  to  stuff  his 
mouth  with  grass.  For  more  than  thirty-six  hours,  since  the 
night  when  they  had  supped  on  horseflesh  and  he  had  con- 
tracted a  terrible  dysentery  in  consequence,  he  had  been 
without  food,  for  he  was  so  little  able  to  look  out  for  himself 
that,  notwithstanding  his  bovine  strength,  whenever  he  joined 
the  others  in  a  marauding  raid  he  never  got  his  share  o(  the 
booty.  He  would  have  been  willing  to  give  his  blood  for  a 
pound  of  bread. 

As  it  was  beginning  to  be  dark  Pache  stealthily  made  his 
way  to  the  Tour  a  Glaire  and  slipped  into  the  park,  while  the 
three  others  cautiously  followed  him  at  a  distance. 

"  It  won't  do  to  let  him  suspect  anything,"  said  Chouteau. 
"  Be  on  your  guard  in  case  he  should  look  around." 

But  when  he  had  advanced  another  hundred  paces  Pache 
evidently  had  no  idea  there  was  anyone  near,  for  he  began  to 
hurry  forward  at  a  swift  gait,  not  so  much  as  casting  a  look 
behind.  They  had  no  difficulty  in  tracking  him  to  the  adjacent 
quarries,  where  they  fell  on  him  as  he  was  in  the  act  of  remov- 
ing two  great  flat  stones,  to  take  from  the  cavity  beneath  part 
of  a  loaf  of  bread.  It  was  the  last  of  his  store  ;  he  had  enough 
left  for  one  more  meal. 

"You  dirty,  sniveling  priest's  whelp  !  "  roared  Lapoulle,  "  so 
that  is  why  you  sneak  away  from  us  !  Give  me  that ;  it's  my 
share  !  " 

Why  should  he  give  his  bread  ?  Weak  and  puny  as  he  was, 
his  slight  form  dilated  with  anger,  while  he  clutched  the  loaf 


THE   DOWNFALL.  4°9 

against  his  bosom  with  all  the  strength  he  could  master.  For 
he  also  was  hungry. 

"  Let  me  alone.     It's  mine." 

Then,  at  sight  of  Lapoulle's  raised  fist,  he  broke  away  and 
ran,  sliding  down  the  steep  banks  of  the  quarries,  making  his 
way  across  the  bare  fields  in  the  direction  of  Donchery,  the 
three  others  after  him  in  hot  pursuit.  He  gained  on  them, 
however,  being  lighter  than  they,  and  possessed  by  such  over- 
mastering fear,  so  determined  to  hold  on  to  what  was  his 
property,  that  his  speed  seemed  to  rival  the  wind.  He  had 
already  covered  more  than  half  a  mile  and  was  approaching 
the  little  wood  on  the  margin  of  the  stream  when  he  en- 
countered Jean  and  Maurice,  who  were  on  their  way  back  to 
their  resting-place  for  the  night.  He  addressed  them  an  ap- 
pealing, distressful  cry  as  he  passed;  while  they,  astounded  by 
the  wild  hunt  that  went  fleeting  by,  stood  motionless  at  the 
edge  of  a  field,  and  thus  it  was  that  they  beheld  the  ensuing 
tragedy. 

As  luck  would  have  it,  Pache  tripped  over  a  stone  and  fell. 
In  an  instant  the  others  were  on  top  of  him — shouting,  swear- 
ing, their  passion  roused  to  such  a  pitch  of  frenzy  that  they 
were  like  wolves  that  had  run  down  their  prey. 

"Give  me  that,"  yelled  Lapoulle,  "or  by  G— d  I'll  kill 
you!" 

And  he  had  raised  his  fist  again  when  Chouteau,  taking  from 
his  pocket  the  penknife  with  which  he  had  slaughtered  the 
horse  and  opening  it, placed  it  in  his  hand. 

"  Here,  take  it !  the  knife  !  " 

But  Jean  meantime  had  come  hurrying  up,  desirous  to  pre- 
vent the  mischief  he  saw  brewing,  losing  his  wits  like  the  rest 
of  them,  indiscreetly  speaking  of  putting  them  all  in  the  guard- 
house ;  whereon  Loubet,  with  an  ugly  laugh,  told  him  he  must 
be  a  Prussian,  since  they  had  no  longer  any  commanders,  and 
the  Prussians  were  the  only  ones  who  issued  orders. 

"  Norn  de  Dieu ! "  Lapoulle  repeated,  "  will  you  give  me 
that?" 

Despite  the  terror  that  blanched  his  cheeks  Pache  hugged 
the  bread  more  closely  to  his  bosom,  with  the  obstinacy  of 
the  peasant  who  never  cedes  a  jot  or  tittle  of  that  which  is  his. 

"  No  !  " 

Then  in  a  second  all  was  over  ;  the  brute  drove  the  knife 
into  the  other's  throat  with  such  violence  that  the  wretched 
man  did  not  even  utter  a  cry.  His  arms  relaxed,  the  bread 


410  THE  DOWNFALL. 

fell  to  the  ground,  into  the  pool  of  blood  that  had  spirted  from 
the  wound. 

At  sight  of  the  imbecile,  uncalled-for  murder,  Maurice,  who 
had  until  then  been  a  silent  spectator  of  the  scene,  appeared  as 
if  stricken  by  a  sudden  fit  of  madness.  He  raved  and  gesticu- 
lated, shaking  his  fist  in  the  face  of  the  three  men  and  calling 
them  murderers,  assassins,  with  a  violence  that  shook  his  frame 
from  head  to  foot.  But  Lapoulle  seemed  not  even  to  hear  him. 
Squatted  on  the  ground  beside  the  corpse,  he  was  devouring 
the  bloodstained  bread,  an  expression  of  stupid  ferocity  on 
his  face,  with  a  loud  grinding  of  his  great  jaws,  while  Chouteau 
and  Loubet,  seeing  him  thus  terrible  in  the  gratification  of  his 
wild-beast  appetite,  did  not  even  dare  claim  their  portion. 

By  this  time  night  had  fallen,  a  pleasant  night  with  a  clear 
sky  thick-set  with  stars,  and  Maurice  and  Jean,  who  had  re- 
gained the  shelter  of  their  little  wood,  presently  perceived 
Lapoulle  wandering  up  and  down  the  river  bank.  The  two 
others  had  vanished,  had  doubtless  returned  to  the  encamp- 
ment by  the  canal,  their  mind  troubled  by  reason  of  the  corpse 
they  left  behind  them.  He,  on  the  other  hand,  seemed  to 
dread  going  to  rejoin  the  comrades.  When  he  was  more  him- 
self and  his  brutish,  sluggish  intellect  showed  him  the  full  ex- 
tent of  his  crime,  he  had  evidently  experienced  a  twinge  of 
anguish  that  made  motion  a  necessity,  and  not  daring  to  return 
to  the  interior  of  the  peninsula,  where  he  would  have  to  face 
the  body  of  his  victim,  had  sought  the  bank  of  the  stream, 
where  he  was  now  tramping  to  and  fro  with  uneven,  faltering 
steps.  What  was  going  on  within  the  recesses  of  that  dark- 
ened mind  that  guided  the  actions  of  that  creature,  so  de- 
graded as  to  be  scarce  higher  than  the  animal  ?  Was  it  the 
awakening  of  remorse  ?  or  only  the  fear  lest  his  crime  might  be 
discovered  ?  He  could  not  remain  there  ;  he  paced  his  beat 
as  a  wild  beast  shambles  up  and  down  its  cage,  with  a  sudden 
and  ever-increasing  longing  to  fly,  a  longing  that  ached  and 
pained  like  a  physical  hurt,  from  which  he  felt  he  should  die, 
could  he  do  nothing  to  satisfy  it.  Quick,  quick,  he  must  fly,  must 
fly  at  once,  from  that  prison  where  he  had  slain  a  fellow-being. 
And  yet,  the  coward  in  him,  it  may  be,  gaining  the  supremacy, 
he  threw  himself  on  the  ground,  and  for  a  long  time  lay  crouched 
among  the  herbage. 

And  Maurice  said  to  Jean  in  his  horror  and  disgust  : 

"  See  here,  I  cannot  remain  longer  in  this  place  ;  I  tell  you 
plainly  I  should  go  mad  I  am  surprised  that  the  physical 


THE  DOWNFALL.  411 

part  of  me  holds  out  as  it  does  ;  my  bodily  health  is  not  so  bad, 
but  the  mind  is  going  ;  yes  !  it  is  going,  I  am  certain  of  it.  If 
you  leave  me  another  day  in  this  hell  I  am  lost.  I  beg  you,  let 
us  go  away,  let  us  start  at  once  ! " 

And  he  went  on  to  propound  the  wildest  schemes  for  getting 
away.  They  would  swim  the  Meuse,  would  cast  themselves  on 
the  sentries  and  strangle  them  with  a  cord  he  had  in  his  pocket, 
or  would  beat  out  their  brains  with  rocks,  or  would  buy  them 
over  with  the  money  they  had  left  and  don  their  uniform  to 
pass  through  the  Prussian  lines. 

"  My  dear  boy,  be  silent !  "  Jean  sadly  answered  ;  "  it 
frightens  me  to  hear  you  talk  so  wildly.  Is  there  any  reason 
in  what  you  say,  are  any  of  your  plans  feasible  ?  Wait  ;  to- 
morrow we'll  see  about  it.  Be  silent !" 

He,  although  his  heart,  no  less  than  his  friend's,  was  wrung 
by  the  horrors  that  surrounded  them  on  every  side,  had  pre- 
served his  mental  balance  amid  the  debilitating  effects  of  fam- 
ine, among  the  grisly  visions  of  that  existence  than  which 
none  could  approach  more  nearly  the  depth  of  human  misery. 
And  as  his  companion's  frenzy  continued  to  increase  and  he 
talked  of  casting  himself  into  the  Meuse,  he  was  obliged  to  re- 
strain him,  even  to  the  point  of  using  violence,  scolding  and 
supplicating,  tears  standing  in  his  eyes.  Then  suddenly  he  said  : 

"  See  !  look  there  !  " 

A  splash  was  heard  coming  from  the  river,  and  they  saw  it 
was  Lapoulle,  who  had  finally  decided  to  attempt  to  escape  by 
the  stream,  first  removing  his  capote  in  order  that  it  might  not 
hinder  his  movements  ;  and  his  white  shirt  made  a  spot  of 
brightness  that  was  distinctly  visible  upon  the  dusky  bosom 
of  the  moving  water.  He  was  swimming  up-stream  with  a 
leisurely  movement,  doubtless  on  the  lookout  for  a  place  where 
he  might  land  with  safety,  while  on  the  opposite  shore  there 
was  no  difficulty  in  discerning  the  shadowy  forms  of  the  sen- 
tries, erect  and  motionless  in  the  semi-obscurity.  There  came 
a  sudden  flash  that  tore  the  black  veil  of  night,  a  report  that 
went  with  bellowing  echoes  and  spent  itself  among  the  rocks 
of  Montimont.  The  water  boiled  and  bubbled  for  an  instant, 
as  it  does  under  the  wild  efforts  of  an  unpracticed  oarsman. 
And  that  was  all  ;  Lapoulle's  body,  the  white  spot  on  the 
dusky  stream,  floated  away,  lifeless,  upon  the  tide. 

The  next  day,  which  was  Saturday,  Jean  aroused  Maurice  as 
soon  as  it  was  day  and  they  returned  to  the  camp  of  the  io6th, 
with  the  hope  that  they  might  move  that  day,  but  there  were 


412  THE  DOWNFALL. 

no  orders  ;  it  seemed  as  though  the  regiment's  existence  were 
forgotten.  Many. of  the  troops  had  been  sent  away,  the  penin- 
sula was  being  depopulated,  and  sickness  was  terribly  preva- 
lent among  those  who  were  left  behind.  For  eight  long  days 
disease  had  been  gerhiinating  in  that  hell  on  earth  ;  the  rains 
had  ceased,  but  the  blazing,  scorching  sunlight  had  only 
wrought  a  change  of  evils.  The  excessive  heat  completed  the 
exhaustion  of  the  men  and  gave  to  the  numerous  cases  of  dys- 
entery an  alarmingly  epidemic  character.  The  excreta  of  that 
army  of  sick  poisoned  the  air  with  their  noxious  emanations.  « 
No  one  could  approach  the  Meuse  or  the  canal,  owing  to  the  over- 
powering stench  that  rose  from  the  bodies  of  drowned  soldiers  . 
and  horses  that  lay  festering  among  the  weeds.  And  the  horses, 
that  dropped  in  the  fields  from  inanition,  were  decomposing  so 
rapidly  and  forming  such  a'  fruitful  source  of  pestilence  that 
the  Prussians,  commencing  to  be  alarmed  on  their  own  ac- 
count, had  provided  picks  and  shovels  and  forced  the  prisoners 
to  bury  them. 

That  day,  however,  was  the  last  on  which  they  suffered  from 
famine.  As  their  numbers  were  so  greatly  reduced  and  pro- 
visions kept  pouring  in  from  every  quarter,  they  passed  at  a 
single  bound  from  the  extreme  of  destitution  to  the  most 
abundant  plenty.  Bread,  meat,  and  wine,  even,  were  to  be  had 
without  stint  ;  eating  went  on  from  morning  till  night,  until 
they  were  ready  to  drop.  Darkness  descended,  and  they  were 
eating  still  ;  in  some  quarters  the  gorging  was  continued  until 
the  next  morning.  To  many  it  proved  fatal. 

That  whole  day  Jean  made  it  his  sole  business  to  keep  watch 
over  Maurice,  who  he  saw  was  ripe  for  some  rash  action.  He 
had  been  drinking  ;  he  spoke  of  his  intention  of  cuffing  a 
Prussian  officer  in  order  that  he  might  be  sent  away.  And  at 
night  Jean,  having  discovered  an  unoccupied  corner  in  the 
cellar  of  one  of  the  outbuildings  at  the  Tour  a  Glaire,  thought 
it  advisable  to  go  and  sleep  there  with  his  companion,  thinking 
that  a  good  night's  rest  would  do  him  good,  but  it  turned  out 
to  be  the  worst  night  in  all  their  experience,  a  night  of  terror 
during  which  neither  of  them  closed  an  eye.  The  cellar  was 
inhabited  by  other  soldiers  ;  lying  in  the  same  corner  were  two 
who  were  dying  of  dysentery,  and  as  soon  as  it  was  fairly  dark 
they  commenced  to  relieve  their  sufferings  by  moans  and  in- 
articulate cries,  a  hideous  death-rattle  that  went  on  uninter- 
ruptedly until  morning.  These  sounds  finally  became  so  hor- 
rific, there  in  the  intense  darkness,  that  the  others  who  were 


THE  DOWNFALL.  4*3 

resting  there,  wishing  to  sleep,  allowed  their  anger  to  get  the 
better  of  them  and  shouted  to  the  dying  men  to  be  silent. 
They  did  not  hear  ;  the  rattle  went  on,  drowning  all  other 
sounds,  while  from  without  came  the  drunken  clamor  of  those 
who  were  eating  and  drinking  still,  with  insatiable  appetite. 

Then  commenced  for  Maurice  a  period  of  agony  unspeaka- 
able.  He  would  have  fled  from  the  awful  sounds  that  brought 
the  cold  sweat  of  anguish  in  great  drops  to  his  brow,  but  when 
he  arose  and  attempted  to  grope  his  way  out  he  trod  on  the 
limbs  of  those  extended  there,  and  finally  fell  to  the  ground, 
a  living  man  immured  there  in  the  darkness  with  the  dying. 
He  made  no  further  effort  to  escape  from  this  last  trial.  The 
entire  frightful  disaster  arose  before  his  mind,  from  the  time  of 
their  departure  from  Rheims  to  the  crushing  defeat  of  Sedan. 
It  seemed  to  him  that  in  that  night,  in  the  inky  blackness  of 
that  cellar,  where  the  groans  of  two  dying  soldiers  drove  sleep 
from  the  eyelids  of  their  comrades,  the  ordeal  of  the  army  of 
Chalons  had  reached  its  climax.  At  each  of  the  stations  of  its 
passion  the  army  of  despair,  the  expiatory  band,  driven  for- 
ward to  the  sacrifice,  had  spent  its  life-blood  in  atonement  for 
the  faults  of  others  ;  and  now,  unhonored  amid  disaster,  cov- 
ered with  contumely,  it  was  enduring  martyrdom  in  that  cruel 
scourging,  the  severity  of  which  it  had  done  nothing  to  deserve. 
He  felt  it  was  too  much  ;  he  was  heartsick  with  rage  and  grief, 
hungering  for  justice,  burning  with  a  fierce  desire  to  be  avenged 
on  destiny. 

When  daylight  appeared  one  of  the  soldiers  was  dead,  the 
other  was  lingering  on  in  protracted  agony. 

"Come  along,  little  one,"  Jean  gently  said  ;  "we'll  go  and 
get  a  breath  of  fresh  air  ;  it  will  do  us  good." 

But  when  the  pair  emerged  into  the  pure,  warm  morning  air 
and,  pursuing  the  river  bank,  were  near  the  village  of  Iges, 
Maurice  grew  flightier  still,  and  extending  his  hand  toward  the 
vast  expanse  of  sunlit  battlefield,  the  plateau  of  Illy  in  front  of 
them,  Saint-Menges  to  the  left,  the  wood  of  la  Garenne  to  the 
right,  he  cried  : 

"  No,  I  cannot,  I  cannot  bear  to  look  on  it  !  The  sight 
pierces  my  heart  and  drives  me  mad.  Take  me  away,  oh  ! 
take  me  away,  at  once,  at  once  !  " 

It  was  Sunday  once  more  ;  the  bells  were  pealing  from  the 
steeples  of  Sedan,  while  the  music  of  a  German  military  band 
floated  on  the  air  in  the  distance.  There  were  still  no  orders 
for  their  regiment  to  move,  and  Jean,  alarmed  to  see  Maurice's 


THE  DOWNFALL. 

deliriousness  increasing,  determined  to  attempt  the  execution 
of  a  plan  that  he  had  been  maturing  in  his  mind  for  the  last 
twenty-four  hours.  On  the  road  before  the  tents  of  the  Prus- 
sians another  regiment,  the  5th  of  the  line,  was  drawn  up  in 
readiness  for  departure.  Great  confusion  prevailed  in  the 
column,  and  an  officer,  whose  knowledge  of  the  French  lan- 
guage was  imperfect,  had  been  unable  to  complete  the  roster  of 
the  prisoners.  Then  the  two  friends,  having  first  torn  from 
their  uniform  coat  the  collar  and  buttons  in  order  that  the 
number  might  not  betray  their  identity,  quietly  took  their  place 
in  the  ranks  and  soon  had  the  satisfaction  of  crossing  the 
bridge  and  leaving  the  chain  of  sentries  behind  them.  The 
same  idea  must  have  presented  itself  to  Loubet  and  Chouteau, 
for  they  caught  sight  of  them  somewhat  further  to  the  rear, 
peering  anxiously  about  them  with  the  guilty  eyes  of  murderers. 
Ah,  what  comfort  there  was  for  them  in  that  first  blissful 
moment !  Outside  their  prison  the  sunlight  was  brighter,  the 
air  more  bracing  ;  it  was  like  a  resurrection,  a  bright  renewal 
of  all  their  hopes.  Whatever  evil  fortune  might  have  in  store 
for  them,  they  dreaded  it  not  ;  they  snapped  their  fingers  at  it 
in  their  delight  at  having  seen  the  last  of  the  horrors  of  Camp 
Misery. 

III. 

THAT  morning  Maurice  and  Jean  listened  for  the  last  time 
to  the  gay,  ringing  notes  of  the  French  bugles,  and  now 
they  were  on  their  way  to  Pont-a-Mousson,  marching  in  the 
ranks  of  the  convoy  of  prisoners,  which  was  guarded  front  and 
rear  by  platoons  of  Prussian  infantry,  while  a  file  of  men  with 
fixed  bayonets  flanked  the  column  on  either  side.  Whenever 
they  came  to  a  German  post  they  heard  only  the  lugubrious, 
ear-piercing  strains  of  the  Prussian  trumpets. 

Maurice  was  glad  to  observe  that  the  column  took  the  left- 
hand  road  and  would  pass  through  Sedan  ;  perhaps  he  would 
have  an  opportunity  of  seeing  his  sister  Henriette.  All  the 
pleasure,  however,  that  he  had  experienced  at  his  release  from 
that  foul  cesspool  where  he  had  spent  nine  days  of  agony  was 
dashed  to  the  ground  and  destroyed  during  the  three-mile 
march  from  the  peninsula  of  Iges  to  the  city.  It  was  but  an- 
other form  of  his  old  distress  to  behold  that  array  of  prisoners, 
shuffling  timorously  through  the  dust  of  the  road,  like  a  flock 
of  sheep  with  the  dog  at  their  heels.  There  is  no  spectacle  in 


THE  DOWNFALL.  415 

all  the  world  more  pitiful  than  that  of  a  column  of  vanquished 
troops  being  marched  off  into  captivity  under  guard  of  their 
conquerors,  without  arms,  their  empty  hands  hanging  idly  at 
their  sides  ;  and  these  men,  clad  in  rags  and  tatters,  besmeared 
with  the  filth  in  which  they  had  lain  for  more  than  a  week, 
gaunt  and  wasted  after  their  long  fast,  were  more  like  vaga- 
bonds than  soldiers  ;  they  resembled  loathsome,  horribly  dirty 
tramps,  whom  the  gendarmes  would  have  picked  up  along  the 
highways  and  consigned  to  the  lockup.  As  they  passed 
through  the  Faubourg  of  Torcy,  where  men  paused  on  the  side- 
walks and  women  came  to  their  doors  to  regard  them  with 
mournful,  compassionate  interest,  the  blush  of  shame  rose  to 
Maurice's  cheek,  he  hung  his  head  and  a  bitter  taste  came  to 
his  mouth. 

Jean,  whose  epidermis  was  thicker  and  mind  more  practical, 
thought  only  of  their  stupidity  in  not  having  brought  off  with 
them  a  loaf  of  bread  apiece.  In  the  hurry  of  their  abrupt  de- 
parture they  had  even  gone  off  without  breakfasting,  and 
hunger  soon  made  its  presence  felt  by  the  nerveless  sensation  in 
their  legs.  Others  among  the  prisoners  appeared  to  be  in  the 
same  boat,  for  they  held  out  money,  begging  the  people  of  the 
place  to  sell  them  something  to  eat.  There  was  one,  an  ex- 
tremely tall  man,  apparently  very  ill,  who  displayed  a  gold 
piece,  extending  it  above  the  heads  of  the  soldiers  of  the  escort  ; 
and  he  was  almost  frantic  that  he  could  purchase  nothing. 
Just  at  that  time  Jean,  who  had  been  keeping  his  eyes  open, 
perceived  a  bakery  a  short  distance  ahead,  before  which  were 
piled  a  dozen  loaves  of  bread  ;  he  immediately  got  his  money 
ready  and,  as  the  column  passed,  tossed  the  baker  a  five-franc 
piece  and  endeavored  to  secure  two  of  the  loaves ;  then,  when 
the  Prussian  who  was  marching  at  his  side  pushed  him  back 
roughly  into  the  ranks,  he  protested,  demanding  that  he  be 
allowed  to  recover  his  money  from  the  baker.  But  at  that 
juncture  the  captain  commanding  the  detachment,  a  short, 
bald-headed  man  with  a  brutal  expression  of  face,  came  hasten- 
ing up  ;  he  raised  his  revolver  over  Jean's  head  as  if  about  to 
strike  him  with  the  butt,  declaring  with  an  oath  that  he  would 
brain  the  first  man  that  dared  to  lift  a  finger.  And  the  rest  of 
the  captives  continued  to  shamble  on,  stirring  up  the  dust  of 
the  road  with  their  shuffling  feet,  with  eyes  averted  and 
shoulders  bowed,  cowed  and  abjectly  submissive  as  a  drove  of 
cattle. 

"  Oh  !  how  good  it  would  seem  to  slap  the  fellow's  face  just 


4i 6  THE  DOWNFALL. 

once  !  "  murmured  Maurice,  as  if  he  meant  it.  "  How  I  should 
like  to  let  him  have  just  one  from  the  shoulder,  and  drive  his 
teeth  down  his  dirty  throat  ! " 

And  during  the  remainder  of  their  march  he  could  not  endure 
to  look  on  that  captain,  with  his  ugly,  supercilious  face. 

They  had  entered  Sedan  by  this  and  were  crossing  the  Pont 
de  Meuse,  and  the  scenes  of  violence  and  brutality  became  more 
numerous  than  ever.  A  woman  darted  forward  and  would 
have  embraced  a  boyish  young  sergeant — likely  she  was  his 
mother — and  was  repulsed  with  a  blow  from  a  musket-butt  that 
felled  her  to  the  ground.  On  the  Place  Turenne  the  guards 
hustled  and  maltreated  some  citizens  because  they  cast  provisions 
to  the  prisoners.  In  the  Grande  Rue  one  of  the  convoy  fell  in 
endeavoring  to  secure  a  bottle  that  a  lady  extended  to  him,  and 
was  assisted  to  his  feet  with  kicks.  For  a  week  now  Sedan 
had  witnessed  the  saddening  spectacle  of  the  defeated  driven 
like  cattle  through  its  streets,  and  seemed  no  more  accustomed 
to  it  than  at  the  beginning  ;  each  time  a  fresh  detachment 
passed  the  city  was  stirred  to  its  very  depths  by  a  movement  of 
pity  and  indignation. 

Jean  had  recovered  his  equanimity ;  his  thoughts,  like 
Maurice's,  reverted  to  Henriette,  and  the  idea  occurred  to  him 
that  they  might  see  Delaherche  somewhere  among  the  throng. 
He  gave  his  friend  a  nudge  of  the  elbow. 

"  Keep  your  eyes  open  if  we  pass  through  their  street  pres- 
ently, will  you  ? " 

They  had  scarce  more  than  struck  into  the  Rue  Maqua, 
indeed,  when  they  became  aware  of  several  pairs  of  eyes 
turned  on  the  column  from  one  of  the  tall  windows  of  the  fac- 
tory, and  as  they  drew  nearer  recognized  Delaherche  and  his 
wife  Gilberte,  their  elbows  resting  on  the  railing  of  the  balcony, 
and  behind  them  the  tall,  rigid  form  of  old  Madame  Delaherche. 
They  had  a  supply  of  bread  with  them,  and  the  manufacturer 
was  tossing  the  loaves  down  into  the  hands  that  were  upstretched 
with  tremulous  eagerness  to  receive  them.  Maurice  saw  at 
once  that  his  sister  was  not  there,  while  Jean  anxiously  watched 
the  flying  loaves,  fearing  there  might  none  be  left  for  them. 
They  both  had  raised  their  arms  and  were  waving  them  franti- 
cally above  their  head,  shouting  meanwhile  with  all  the  force 
of  their  lungs: 

"  Here  we  are  !     This  way,  this  way  !  " 

The  Delaherches  seemed  delighted  to  see  them  in  the  midst 
of  their  surprise.  Their  faces,  pallid  with  emotion,  suddenly 


THE  DOWNFALL.  4r7 

brightened,  and  they  displayed  by  the  warmth  of  their  gestures 
the  pleasure  they  experienced  in  the  encounter.  There  was 
one  solitary  loaf  left,  which  Gilberte  insisted  on  throwing  with 
her  own  hands,  and  pitched  it  into  Jean's  extended  arms  in  such 
a  charmingly  awkward  way  that  she  gave  a  winsome  laugh  at 
her  own  expense.  Maurice,  unable  to  stop  on  account  of  the 
pressure  from  the  rear,  turned  his  head  and  shouted^  in  a  tone 
of  anxious  inquiry  : 

"And  Henriette  ?     Henrietta?" 

Delaherche  replied  with  a  long  farrago,  but  his  voice  was  in- 
audible in  the  shuffling  tramp  of  so  many  feet.  He  seemed  to 
understand  that  the  young  man  had  failed  to  catch  his  mean- 
ing, for  he  gesticulated  like  a  semaphore  ;  there  was  one  gesture 
in  particular  that  he  repeated  several  times,  extending  his  arm 
with  a  sweeping  motion  toward  the  south,  apparently  intending 
to  convey  the  idea  of  some  point  in  the  remote  distance  : 
Off  there,  away  off  there.  Already  the  head  of  the  column  was 
wheeling  into  the  Rue  du  Minil,  the  facade  of  the  factory  was 
lost  to  sight,  together  with  the  kindly  faces  of  the  three  Dela- 
herches  ;  the  last  the  two  friends  saw  of  them  was  the  flutter- 
ing of  the  white  handkerchief  with  which  Gilberte  waved  them 
a  farewell. 

"  What  did  he  say  ?  "  asked  Jean. 

Maurice,  in  a  fever  of  anxiety,  was  stil?  looking  to  the  rear 
where  there  was  nothing  to  be  seen.  "I  don't  know;  I  could 
not  understand  him  ;  I  shall  have  no  peace  of  mind  until  I  hear 
from  her." 

And  the  trailing,  shambling  line  crept  slowly  onward,  the 
Prussians  urging  on  the  weary  men  with  the  brutality  of  con- 
querors ;  the  column  left  the  city  by  the  Minil  gate  in  straggling, 
long-drawn  array,  hastening  their  steps,  like  sheep  at  whose 
heels  the  dogs  are  snapping. 

When  they  passed  through  Bazeilles  Jean  and  Maurice 
thought  of  Weiss,  and  cast  their  eyes  about  in  an  effort  to  dis- 
tinguish the  site  of  the  little  house  that  had  been  defended 
with  such  bravery.  While  they  were  at  Camp  Misery  they  had 
heard  the  woeful  tale  of  slaughter  and  conflagration  that  had 
blotted  the  pretty  village  from  existence,  and  the  abominations 
that  they  now  beheld  exceeded  all  they  had  dreamed  of  or 
imagined.  At  the  expiration  of  twelve  days  the  ruins  were 
smoking  still  ;  the  tottering  walls  had  fallen  in,  there  were  not 
ten  houses  standing.  It  afforded  them  some  small  comfort, 
however,  to  meet  a  procession  of  carts  and  wheelbarrows 


41 8  THE  DOWNFALL. 

loaded  with  Bavarian  helmets  and  muskets  that  had  been  col- 
lected after  the  conflict.  That  evidence  of  the  chastisement 
that  had  been  inflicted  on  those  murderers  and  incendiaries 
went  far  toward  mitigating  the  affliction  of  defeat. 

The  column  was  to  halt  at  Douzy  to  give  the  men  an  oppor- 
tunity to  eat  breakfast.  It  was  not  without  much  suffering 
that  they  reached  that  place  ;  already  the  prisoners'  strength 
was  giving  out,  exhausted  as  they  were  by  their  ten  days  of 
fasting.  Those  who  the  day  before  had  availed  of  the  abundant 
supplies  to  gorge  themselves  were  seized  with  vertigo,  their 
enfeebled  legs  refused  to  support  their  weight,  and  their  glut- 
tony, far  from  restoring  their  lost  strength,  was  a  further  source 
of  weakness  to  them.  The  consequence  was  that,  when  the 
train  was  halted  in  a  meadow  to  the  left  of  the  village,  these 
poor  creatures  flung  themselves  upon  the  ground  with  no 
desire  to  eat.  Wine  was  wanting  ;  some  charitable  women  who 
came,  bringing  a  few  bottles,  were  driven  off  by  the  sentries. 
One  of  them  in  her  affright  fell  and  sprained  her  ankle,  and 
there  ensued  a  painful  scene  of  tears  and  hysterics,  during 
which  the  Prussians  confiscated  the  bottles  and  drank  their 
contents  amid  jeers  and  insulting  laughter.  This  tender  com- 
passion of  the  peasants  for  the  poor  soldiers  who  were  being 
led  away  into  captivity  was  manifested  constantly  along  the 
route,  while  it  was  said  the  harshness  they  displayed  toward 
the  generals  amounted  almost  to  cruelty.  At  that  same  Douzy, 
only  a  few  days  previously,  the  villagers  had  hooted  and  reviled 
a  number  of  paroled  officers  who  were  on  their  way  to  Pont-a- 
Mousson.  The  roads  were  not  safe  for  general  officers  ;  men 
wearing  the  blouse — escaped  soldiers,  or  deserters,  it  may  be — 
fell  on  them  with  pitch-forks  and  endeavored  to  take  their  life 
as  traitors,  credulously  pinning  their  faith  to  that  legend  of 
bargain  and  sale  which,  even  twenty  years  later,  was  to  con- 
tinue to  shed  its  opprobrium  upon  those  leaders  who  had  com- 
manded armies  in  that  campaign. 

Maurice  and  Jean  ate  half  their  bread,  and  were  so  fortunate 
as  to  have  a  mouthful  of  brandy  with  which  to  wash  it  down, 
thanks  to  the  kindness  of  a  worthy  old  farmer.  When  the 
order  was  given  to  resume  their  advance,  however,  the  distress 
throughout  the  convoy  was  extreme.  They  were  to  halt  for 
the  night  at  Mouzon,  and  although  the  march  was  a  short  one, 
it  seemed  as  if  it  would  tax  the  men's  strength  more  severely 
than  they  could  bear  ;  they  could  not  get  on  their  feet  without 
giving  utterance  to  cries  of  pain,  so  stiff  did  their  tired  legs 


THE  DOWNFALL.  419 

become  the  moment  they  stopped  to  rest.  Many  removed 
their  shoes  to  relieve  their  galled  and  bleeding  feet.  Dysen- 
tery continued  to  rage  ;  a  man  fell  before  they  had  gone  half 
a  mile,  and  they  had  to  prop  him  against  a  wall  and  leave  him. 
A  little  further  on  two  others  sank  at  the  foot  of  a  hedge,  and 
it  was  night  before  an  old  woman  came  along  and  picked  them 
up.  All  were  stumbling,  tottering,  and  dragging  themselves 
along,  supporting  their  forms  with  canes,  which  the  Prussians, 
perhaps  in  derision,  had  suffered  them  to  cut  at  the  margin  of 
a  wood.  They  were  a  straggling  array  of  tramps  and  beggars, 
covered  with  sores,  haggard,  emaciated,  and  footsore;  a  sight  to 
bring  tears  to  the  eyes  of  the  most  stony-hearted.  And  the 
guards  continued  to  be  as  brutally  strict  as  ever  ;  those  who 
for  any  purpose  attempted  to  leave  the  ranks  were  driven  back 
with  blows,  and  the  platoon  that  brought  up  the  rear  had 
orders  to  prod  with  their  bayonets  those  who  hung  back.  A 
sergeant  having  refused  to  go  further,  the  captain  summoned 
two  of  his  men  and  instructed  them  to  seize  him,  one  by  either 
arm,  and  in  this  manner  the  wretched  man  was  dragged  over 
the  ground  until  he  agreed  to  walk.  And  what  made  the 
whole  thing  more  bitter  and  harder  to  endure  was  the  utter 
insignificance  of  that  little  pimply-faced,  bald-headed  officer, 
so  insufferably  consequential  in  his  brutality,  who  took  advan- 
tage of  his  knowledge  of  French  to  vituperate  the  prisoners  in 
it  in  curt,  incisive  words  that  cut  ano^stung  like  the  lash  of  a 
whip. 

"  Oh  !  "  Maurice  furiously  exclaimed,  "  to  get  the  puppy  in 
my  hands  and  drain  him  of  his  blood,  drop  by  drop  !  " 

His  powers  of  endurance  were  almost  exhausted,  but  it  was 
his  rage  that  he  had  to  choke  down,  even  more  than  his 
fatigue,  that  was  cause  of  his  suffering.  Everything  exasper- 
ated him  and  set  on  edge  his  tingling  nerves  ;  the  harsh  notes 
of  the  Prussian  trumpets  particularly,  which  inspired  him  with 
a  desire  to  scream  each  time  he  heard  them.  He  felt  he 
should  never  reach  the  end  of  their  cruel  journey  without  some 
outbreak  that  would  bring  down  on  him  the  utmost  seventy  of 
the  guard.  Even  now,  when  traversing  the  smallest  hamlets, 
he  suffered  horribly  and  felt  as  if  he  should  die  with  shame  to 
behold  the  eyes  of  the  women  fixed  pityingly  on  him  ;  what 
would  it  be  when  they  should  enter  Germany,  and  the  populace 
of  the  great  cities  should  crowd  the  streets  to  laugh  and  jeer 
at  them  as  they  passed  ?  And  he  pictured  to  himself  the  cattle 
cars  into  which  they  would  be  crowded  for  transportation,  the 


420  THE  DOWNFALL. 

discomforts  and  humiliations  they  would  have  to  suffer  on  the 
journey,  the  dismal  life  in  German  fortresses  under  the  leaden, 
wintry  sky.  No,  no  ;  he  would  have  none  of  it  ;  better  to  take 
the  risk  of  leaving  his  bones  by  the  roadside  on  French  soil 
than  go  and  rot  off  yonder,  for  months  and  months,  perhaps, 
in  the  dark  depths  of  a  casemate. 

"  Listen,"  he  said  below  his  breath  to  Jean,  who  was  walking 
at  his  side  ;  "  we  will  wait  until  we  come  to  a  wood;  then  we'll 
break  through  the  guards  and  run  for  it  among  the  trees.  The 
Belgian  frontier  is  not  far  away ;  we  shall  have  no  trouble  in 
finding  someone  to  guide  us  to  it." 

Jean,  accustomed  as  he  was  to  look  at  things  coolly  and  cal- 
culate chances,  put  his  veto  on  the  mad  scheme,  although  he, 
too,  in  his  revolt,  was  beginning  to  meditate  the  possibilities  of 
an  escape. 

"  Have  you  taken  leave  of  your  senses  !  the  guard  will  fire 
on  us,  and  we  shall  both  be  killed." 

But  Maurice  replied  there  was  a  chance  the  soldiers  might 
not  hit  them,  and  then,  after  all,  if  their  aim  should  prove  true, 
it  would  not  matter  so  very  much. 

"Very  well  !  "  rejoined  Jean,  "  but  what  is  going  to  become 
of  us  afterward,  dressed  in  uniform  as  we  are  ?  You  know  per- 
fectly well  that  the  country  is  swarming  in  every  direction  with 
Prussian  troops  ;  we  could  not  go  far  unless  we  had  other 
clothes  to  put  on.  No,  no,  my  lad,  it's  too  risky  ;  I'll  not  let 
you  attempt  such  an  insane  project." 

And  he  took  the  young  man's  arm  and  held  it  pressed 
against  his  side,  as  if  they  were  mutually  sustaining  each  other, 
continuing  meanwhile  to  chide  and  soothe  him  in  a  tone  that 
was  at  once  rough  and  affectionate. 

Just  then  the  sound  of  a  whispered  conversation  close  be- 
hind them  caused  them  to  turn  and  look  around.  It  was 
Chouteau  and  Loubet,  who  had  left  the  peninsula  of  Iges  that 
morning  at  the  same  time  as  they,  and  whom  they  had  managed 
to  steer  clear  of  until  the  present  moment.  Now  the  two 
worthies  were  close  at  their  heels,  and  Chouteau  must  have 
overheard  Maurice's  words,  his  plan  for  escaping  through  the 
mazes  of  a  forest,  for  he  had  adopted  it  on  his  own  behalf. 
His  breath  was  hot  upon  their  neck  as  he  murmured  : 

"  Say,  comrades,  count  us  in  on  that.  That's  a  capital  idea 
of  yours,  to  skip  the  ranch.  Some  of  the  boys  have  gone  al- 
ready, and  sure  we're  not  going  to  be  such  fools  as  to  let 
those  bloody  pigs  drag  us  away  like  dogs  into  their  infernal 


THE  DOWNFALL.  421 

country.  What  do  you  say,  eh  ?  Shall  we  four  make  a  break 
for  liberty  ?  " 

Maurice's  excitement  was  rising  to  fever-heat  again  ;  Jean 
turned  and  said  to  the  tempter  : 

"  If  you  are  so  anxious  to  get  away,  why  don't  you  go  ?  there's 
nothing  to  prevent  you.  What  are  you  up  to,  any  way  ?'" 

He  flinched  a  little  before  the  corporal's  direct  glance,  and 
allowed  the  true  motive  of  his  proposal  to  escape  him. 

"  Dame  !  it  would  be  better  that  four  should  share  the  under- 
taking. One  or  two  of  us  might  have  a  chance  of  getting  off." 

Then  Jean,  with  an  emphatic  shake  of  the  head,  refused  to 
have  anything  whatever  to  do  with  the  matter  ;  he  distrusted 
the  gentleman,  he  said,  as  he  was  afraid  he  would  play  them  some 
of  his  dirty  tricks.  He  had  to  exert  all  his  authority  with 
Maurice  to  retain  him  on  his  side,  for  at  that  very  moment  an 
opportunity  presented  itself  for  attempting  the  enterprise  ; 
they  were  passing  the  border  of  a  small  but  very  dense  wood, 
separated  from  the  road  only  by  the  width  of  a  field  that  was 
covered  by  a  thick  growth  of  underbrush.  Why  should  they 
not  dash  across  that  field  and  vanish  in  the  thicket  ?  was  there 
not  safety  for  them  in  that  direction  ? 

Loubet  had  so  far  said  nothing.  His  mind  was  made  up, 
however,  that  he  was  not  going  to  Germany  to  run  to  seed  in 
one  of  their  dungeons,  and  his  nose,  mobile  as  a  hound's,  was 
sniffing  the  atmosphere,  his  shifty  eyes  were  watching  for  the 
favorable  moment.  He  would  trust  to  his  legs  and  his  mother 
wit,  which  had  always  helped  him  out  of  his  scrapes  thus  far. 
His  decision  was  quickly  made. 

"  Ah,  zut !     I've  had  enough  of  it  ;  I'm  off  !  " 

He  broke  through  the  line  of  the  escort,  and  with  a  single 
bound  was  in  the  field,  Chouteau  following  his  example  and 
running  at  his  side.  Two  of  the  Prussian  soldiers  immediately 
started  in  pursuit,  but  the  others  seemed  dazed,  and  it  did  not 
occur  to  them  to  send  a  ball  after  the  fugitives.  The  entire 
episode  was  so  soon  over  that  it  was  not  easy  to  note  its  differ- 
ent phases.  Loubet  dodged  and  doubled  among  the  bushes 
and  it  appeared  as  if -he  would  certainly  succeed  in  getting  off, 
while  Chouteau,  less  ^nimble,  was  on  the  point  of  being  cap- 
tured, but  the  latter,  summoning  up  all  his  energies  in  a  supreme 
burst  of  speed,  caught  up  with  his  comrade  and  dexterously 
tripped  him  ;  and  while  the  two  Prussians  were  lumbering  up 
to  secure  the  fallen  man,  the  other  darted  into  the  wood  and 
vanished.  The  guard,  finally  remembering  that  they  had  mus- 


422  THE  DOWNFALL. 

kets,  fired  a  few  ineffectual  shots,  and  there  was  some  attempt 
made  to  search  the  thicket,  which  resulted  in  nothing. 

Meantime  the  two  soldiers  were  pummeling  poor  Loubet, 
who  had  not  regained  his  feet.  The  captain  came  running  up, 
beside  himself  with  anger,  and  talked  of  making  an  example,  and 
with  this  encouragement  kicks  and  cuffs  and  blows  from  musket- 
butts  continued  to  rain  down  upon  the  wretched  man  with  such 
fury  that  when  at  last  they  stood  him  on  his  feet  he  was  found 
to  have  an  arm  broken  and  his  skull  fractured.  A  peasant 
came  along,  driving  a  cart,  in  which  he  was  placed,  but  he  died 
before  reaching  Mouzon. 

"  You  see,"  was  all  that  Jean  said  to  Maurice. 

The  two  friends  cast  a  look  in  the  direction  of  the  wood 
that  sufficiently  expressed  their  sentiments  toward  the  scoun- 
drel who  had  gained  his  freedom  by  such  base  means,  while 
their  hearts  were  stirred  with  feelings  of  deepest  compassion 
for  the  poor  devil  whom  he  had  made  his  victim  ;^a  guzzler  and 
a  toper,  who  certainly  did  not  amount  to  much,  but  a  merry, 
good-natured  fellow  all  the  same,  and  nobody's  fool.  And 
that  was  always  the  way  with  those  who  kept  bad  company, 
Jean  moralizingly  observed  :  they  might  be  very  fly,  but  sooner 
or  later  a  bigger  rascal  was  sure  to  come  along  and  make  a 
meal  of  them. 

Notwithstanding  this  terrible  lesson  Maurice,  upon  reach- 
ing Mouzon,  was  still  possessed  by  his  unalterable  determina- 
tion to  attempt  an  escape.  The  prisoners  were  in  such  an 
exhausted  condition  when  they  reached  the  place  that  the 
Prussians  had  to  assist  them  to  set  up  the  few  tents  that  were 
placed  at  their  disposal.  The  camp  was  formed  near  the  town, 
on  low  and  marshy  ground,  and  the  worst  of  the  business  was 
that  another  convoy  having  occupied  the  spot  the  day  before, 
the  field  was  absolutely  invisible  under  the  superincumbent 
filth  ;  it  was  no  better  than  a  common  cesspool,  of  unimagina- 
ble foulness.  The  sole  means  the  men  had  of  self-protection 
was  to  scatter  over  the  ground  some  large  flat  stones,  of  which 
they  were  so  fortunate  as  to  find  a  number  in  the  vicinity.  By 
way  of  compensation  they  had  a  somewhat  less  hard  time  of  it 
that  evening  ;  the  strictness  of  their  guardians  was  relaxed  a 
little  once  the  captain  had  disappeared,  doubtless  to  seek  the 
comforts  of  an  inn.  The  sentries  began  by  winking  at  the 
irregularity  of  the  proceeding  when  some  children  came  along 
and  commenced  to  toss  fruit,  apples  and  pears,  over  their  heads 
\o  the  prisoners  ;  the  next  thing  was  they  allowed  the  people 


THE  DOWNFALL.  4*3 

of  the  neighborhood  to  enter  the  lines,  so  that  in  a  short  time 
the  camp  was  swarming  with  impromptu  merchants,  men  and 
women,  offering  for  sale  bread,  wine,  cigars,  even.  Those  who 
had  money  had  no  trouble  in  supplying  their  needs  so  far  as 
eating,  drinking,  and  smoking  were  concerned.  A  bustling 
animation  prevailed  in  the  dim  twilight  ;  it  was  like  a  corner  of 
the  market  place  in  a  town  where  a  fair  is  being  held. 

But  Maurice  drew  Jean  behind  their  tent  and  again  said  to 
him  in  his  nervous,  flighty  way  : 

"  I  can't  stand  it ;  I  shall  make  an  effort  to  get  away  as  soon 
as  it  is  dark.  To-morrow  our  course  will  take  us  away  from 
the  frontier;  it  will  be  too  late." 

"  Very  well,  we'll  try  it,"  Jean  replied,  his  powers  of  resist- 
ance exhausted,  his  imagination,  too,  seduced  by  the  pleasing 
idea  of  freedom.  "  They  can't  do  more  than  kill  us." 

After  that  he  began  to  scrutinize  more  narrowly  the  venders 
who  surrounded  him  on  every  side.  There  were  some  among 
the  comrades  who  had  succeeded  in  supplying  themselves  with 
blouse  and  trousers,  and  it  was  reported  that  some  of  the  char- 
itable people  of  the  place  had  regular  stocks  of  garments  on 
hand,  designed  to  assist  prisoners  in  escaping.  And  almost 
immediately  his  attention  was  attracted  to  a  pretty  girl,  a  tall 
blonde  of  sixteen  with  a  pair  of  magnificent  eyes,  who  had  on 
her  arm  a  basket  containing  three  loaves  of  bread.  She  was 
not  crying  her  wares  like  the  rest.;  an  anxious,  engaging  smile 
played  on  her  red  lips,  her  manner  was  hesitating.  He  looked 
her  steadily  in  the  face  ;  their  glances  met  and  for  an  instant 
remained  confounded.  Then  she  came  up,  with  the  embar- 
rassed smile  of  a  girl  unaccustomed  to  such  business. 

•"  Do  you  wish  to  buy  some  bread  ? " 

He  made  no  reply,  but  questioned  her  by  an  imperceptible 
movement  of  the  eyelids.  On  her  answering  yes,  by  an  affirm- 
ative nod  of  the  head,  he  asked  in  a  very  low  tone  of  voice  : 

"There  is  clothing?" 

"  Yes,  under  the  loaves." 

Then  she  began  to  cry  her  merchandise  aloud  :  "  Bread  ! 
bread  !  who'll  buy  my  bread  ? "  But  when  Maurice  would 
have  slipped  a  twenty-franc  piece  into  her  fingers  she  drew 
back  her  hand  abruptly  and  ran  away,  leaving  the  basket  with 
them.  The  last  they  saw  of  her  was  the  happy,  tender  look  in 
her  pretty  eyes,  as  in  the  distance  she  turned  and  smiled  on 
them. 

When  they  were  in  possession  of  the  basket  Jean  and  Maurice 


424  THE  DOWNFALL. 

found  difficulties  staring  them  in  the  face.  They  had  strayed 
away  from  their  tent,  and  in  their  agitated  condition  felt  they 
should  never  succeed  in  finding  it  again.  Where  were  they  to 
bestow  themselves  ?  and  how  effect  their  change  of  garments  ? 
It  seemed  to  them  that  the  eyes  of  the  entire  assemblage  were 
focused  on  the  basket,  which  Jean  carried  with  an  awkward 
air,  as  if  it  contained  dynamite,  and  that  its  contents  must  be 
plainly  visible  to  everyone.  It  would  not  do  to  waste  time, 
however  ;  they  must  be  up  and  doing.  They  stepped  into  the 
first  vacant  tent  they  came  to,  where  each  of  them  hurriedly 
slipped  on  a  pair  of  trousers  and  donned  a  blouse,  having  first 
deposited  their  discarded  uniforms  in  the  basket,  which  they 
placed  on  the  ground  in  a  dark  corner  of  the  tent  and  aban- 
doned to  its  fate.  There  was  a  circumstance  that  gave  them 
no  small  uneasiness,  however  ;  they  found  only  one  head- 
covering,  a  knitted  woolen  cap,  which  Jean  insisted  Maurice 
should  wear.  The  former,  fearing  his  bare-headedness  might 
excite  suspicion,  was  hanging  about  the  precincts  of  the  camp 
on  the  lookout  for  a  covering  of  some  description,  when  it 
occurred  to  him  to  purchase  his  hat  from  an  extremely  dirty 
old  man  who  was  selling  cigars. 

"  Brussels  cigars,  thr^ee  sous  apiece,  two  for  five  !  " 

Customs  regulations  were  in  abeyance  since  the  battle  of 
Sedan,  and  the  imports  of  Belgian  merchandise  had  been 
greatly  stimulated.  The  old  man  had  been  making  a  hand- 
some profit  from  his  traffic,  but  that  did  not  prevent  him  from 
driving  a  sharp  bargain  when  he  understood  the  reason  why 
the  two  men  wanted  to  buy  his  hat,  a  greasy  old  affair  of  felt 
with  a  great  hole  in  its  crown.  He  finally  consented  to  part 
with  it  for  two  five-franc  pieces,  grumbling  that  he  should 
certainly  have  a  cold  in  his  head. 

Then  Jean  had  another  idea,  which  was  neither  more  nor 
less  than  to  buy  out  the  old  fellow's  stock  in  trade,  the  two 
dozen  cigars  that  remained  unsold.  The  bargain  effected,  he 
pulled  his  hat  down  over  his  eyes  and  began  to  cry  in  the 
itinerant  hawker's  drawling  tone  : 

"  Here  you  are,  Brussels  cigars,  two  for  three  sous,  two  for 
three  sous !  " 

Their  safety  was  now  assured.  He  signaled  Maurice  to  go 
on  before.  It  happened  to  the  latter  to  discover  an  umbrella 
lying  on  the  grass ;  he  picked  it  up  and,  as  a  few  drops  of  rain 
began  to  fall  just  then,  opened  it  tranquilly  as  they  were  about 
to  pass  the  line  of  sentries. 


THE  DOWNFALL.  4*5 

"  Two  for  three  sous,  two  for  three  sous,  Brussels  cigars  !  " 

It  took  Jean  less  than  two  minutes  to  dispose  of  his  stock  of 
merchandise.  The  men  came  crowding  about  him  with  chaff 
and  laughter  :  a  reasonable  fellow,  that ;  he  didn't  rob  poor 
chaps  of  their  money !  The  Prussians  themselves  were 
attracted  by  such  unheard-of  bargains,  and  he  was  compelled 
to  trade  with  them.  He  had  all  the  time  been  working  his  way 
toward  the  edge  of  the  enceinte,  and  his  last  two  cigars  went 
to  a  big  sergeant  with  an  immense  beard,  who  could  not  speak 
a  word  of  French. 

"  Don't  walk  so  fast  confound  it  ! "  Jean  breathed  in  a 
whisper  behind  Maurice's  back.  "  You'll  have  them  after 
us." 

Their  legs  seemed  inclined  to  run  away  with  them,  although 
they  did  their  best  to  strike  a  sober  gait.  It  caused  them  a 
great  effort  to  pause  a  moment  at  a  cross-roads,  where  a  num- 
ber of  people  were  collected  before  an  inn.  Some  villagers 
were  chatting  peaceably  with  German  soldiers,  and  the  two 
runaways  made  a  pretense  of  listening,  and  even  hazarded  a 
few  observations  on  the  weather  and  the  probability  of  the  rain 
continuing  during  the  night.  They  trembled  when  they  be- 
held a  man,  a  fleshy  gentleman,  eying  them  attentively,  but  as 
he  smiled  with  an  air  of  great  good-nature  they  thought  they 
might  venture  to  address  him,  asking  in  a  whisper  : 

"  Can  you  tell  us  if  the  road  to  Belgium  is  guarded,  sir  ?  " 

"  Yes,  it  is  ;  but  you  will  be  safe  if  you  cross  this  wood  and 
afterward  cut  across  the  fields,  to  the  left." 

Once  they  were  in  the  wood,  in  the  deep,  dark  silence  of  the 
slumbering  trees,  where  no  sound  reached  their  ears,  where 
nothing  stirred  and  they  believed  their  safety  was  assured  them, 
they  sank  into  each  other's  arms  in  an  uncontrollable  impulse 
of  emotion.  Maurice  was  sobbing  violently,  while  big  tears  tric- 
kled slowly  down  Jean's  cheeks.  It  was  the  natural  revulsion  of 
their  overtaxed  feelings  after  the  long-protracted  ordeal  they 
had  passed  through,  the  joy  and  delight  of  their  mutual  assur- 
ance that  their  troubles  were  at  an  end,  and  that  thenceforth 
suffering  and  they  were  to  be  strangers.  And  united  by  the 
memory  of  what  they  had  endured  together  in  ties  closer  than 
those  of  brotherhood,  they  clasped  each  other  in  a  wild  embrace, 
and  the  kiss  that  they  exchanged  at  that  moment  seemed  to 
them  to  possess  a  savor  and  a  poignancy  such  as  they  had  never 
experienced  before  in  all  their  life  ;  a  kiss  such  as  they  never 
could  receive  from  lips  of  woman,  sealing  their  undying  friend- 


426  THE  DOWNFALL 

ship,  giving  additional  confirmation  to  the  certainty  that  there- 
after their  two  hearts  would  be  but  one,  for  all  eternity. 

When  they  had  separated  at  last  :  "  Little  one,"  said  Jean, 
in  a  trembling  voice,  "  it  is  well  for  us  to  be  here,  but  we  are  not 
at  the  end.  We  must  look  about  a  bit  and  try  to  find  our  bear- 
ings." 

Maurice,  although  he  had  no  acquaintance  with  that  part  of 
the  frontier,  declared  that  all  they  had  to  do  was  to  pursue  a 
straight  course,  whereon  they  resumed  their  way,  moving  among 
the  trees  in  Indian  file  with  the  greatest  circumspection,  until 
they  reached  the  edge  of  the  thicket.  There,  mindful  of  the 
injunction  of  the  kind-hearted  villager,  they  were  about  to  turn 
to  the  left  and  take  a  short  cut  across  the  fields,  but  on  coming 
to  a  road,  bordered  with  a  row  of  poplars  on  either  side 
they  beheld  directly  in  their  path  the  watch-fire  of  a  Prussian  de^ 
tachment.  The  bayonet  of  the  sentry,  pacing  his  beat,  gleamed 
in  the  ruddy  light,  the  men  were  finishing  their  soup  and  con- 
versing ;  the  fugitives  stood  not  upon  the  order  of  their  going, 
but  plunged  into  the  recesses  of  the  wood  again,  in  mortal  ter- 
ror lest  they  might  be  pursued.  They  thought  they  heard  the 
sound  of  voices,  of  footsteps  on  their  trail,  and  thus  for  over  an 
hour  they  wandered  at  random  among  the  copses,  until  all  idea 
of  locality  was  obliterated  from  their  brain  ;  now  racing  like  af- 
frighted animals  through  the  underbrush,  again  brought  up  all 
standing,  the  cold  sweat  trickling  down  their  face,  before  a  tree 
in  which  they  beheld  a  Prussian.  And  the  end  of  it  was  that 
they  again  came  out  on  the  poplar-bordered  road  not  more 
than  ten  paces  from  the  sentry,  and  quite  near  the  soldiers,  who 
were  toasting  their  toes  in  tranquil  comfort. 

"  Hang  the  luck  !  "  grumbled  Jean.  "  This  must  be  an  en* 
chanted  wood." 

This  time,  however,  they  had  been  heard.  The  sound  of 
snapping  twigs  and  rolling  stones  betrayed  them.  And  as  they 
did  not  answer  the  challenge  of  the  sentry,  but  made  off  at  the 
double-quick,  the  men  seized  their  muskets  and  sent  a  shower 
of  bullets  crashing  through  the  thicket,  into  which  the  fugitives 
had  plunged  incontinently. 

"  Nom  de  Dieu  !  "  ejaculated  Jean,  with  a  stifled  cry  of  pain. 

He  had  received  something  that  felt  like  the  cut  of  a  whip  in 
the  calf  of  his  left  leg,  but  the  impact  was  so  violent  that  it 
drove  him  up  against  a  tree. 

"  Are  you  hurt  ?  "  Maurice  anxiously  inquired. 

"  Yes,  and  in  the  leg,  worse  luck  !" 


THE  DOWNFALL.  4*7 

They  both  stood  holding  their  breath  and  listening,  in  dread 
expectancy  of  hearing  their  pursuers  clamoring  at  their  heels  ; 
but  the  firing  had  ceased  and  nothing  stirred  amid  the  intense 
stillness  that  had  again  settled  down  upon  the  wood  and  the 
surrounding  country.  It  was  evident  that  the  Prussians  had  no 
inclination  to  beat  up  the  thicket. 

Jean,  who  was  doing  his  best  to  keep  on  his  feet,  forced  back 
a  groan.  Maurice  sustained  him  with  his  arm. 

"  Can't  you  walk  ?  " 

"  I  should  say  not  !  "  He  gave  way  to  a  fit  of  rage,  he, 
always  so  self-contained.  He  clenched  his  fists,  could  have 
thumped  himself.  "  God  in  Heaven,  if  this  is  not  hard  luck  ! 
to  have  one's  legs  knocked  from  under  him  at  the  very  time  he 
is  most  in  need  of  them  !  It's  too  bad,  too  bad,  by  my  soul  it 
is  !  Go  on,  you,  and  put  yourself  in  safety  ! " 

But  Maurice  laughed  quietly  as  he  answered : 

"  That  is  silly  talk  !  " 

He  took  his  friend's  arm  and  helped  him  along,  for  neither 
of  them  had  any  desire  to  linger  there.  When,  laboriously  and 
by  dint  of  heroic  effort,  they  had  advanced  some  half-dozen 
paces  further,  they  halted  again  with  renewed  alarm  at  behold- 
ing before  them  a  house,  standing  at  the  margin  of  the  wood, 
apparently  a  sort  of  farmhouse.  Not  a  light  wns  visible  at 
any  of  the  windows,  the  open  courtyard  gate  yawned  upon  the 
dark  and  deserted  dwelling.  And  when  they  plucked  up  their 
courage  a  little  and  ventured  to  enter  the  courtyard,  great  was 
their  surprise  to  find  a  horse  standing  there  with  a  saddle  on 
his  back,  with  nothing  to  indicate  the  why  or  wherefore  of  his 
being  there.  Perhaps  it  was  the  owner's  intention  to  return, 
perhaps  he  was  lying  behind  a  bush  with  a  bullet  in  his  brain. 
They  never  learned  how  it  was. 

But  Maurice  had  conceived  a  new  scheme,  which  appeared  to 
afford  him  great  satisfaction. 

"  See  here,  the  frontier  is  too  far  away  ;  we  should  never 
succeed  in  reaching  it  without  a  guide.  What  do  you  say  to 
changing  our  plan  and  going  to  Uncle  Fouchard's,  at  Remilly  ? 
I  am  so  well  acquainted  with  every  inch  of  the  road  that  I'm 
sure  I  could  take  you  there  with  my  eyes  bandaged.  Don't 
you  think  it's  a  good  idea,  eh  ?  I'll  put  you  on  this  horse,  and 
I  suppose  Uncle  Fouchard  will  grumble,  but  he'll  take  us  in." 

Before  starting  he  wished  to  take  a  look  at  the  injured  leg. 
There  were  two  orifices  ;  the  ball  appeared  to  have  entered 
the  limb  and  passed  out,  fracturing  the  tibia  in  its  course.  The 


428 

flow  of  blood  had  not  been  great  ;  he  did  nothing  more  than 
bandage  the  upper  part  of  the  calf  tightly  with  his  handker- 
chief. 

"  Do  you  fly,  and  leave  me  here,"  Jean  said  again. 

"  Hold  your  tongue  ;  you  are  silly  ! " 

When  Jean  was  seated  firmly  in  the  saddle  Maurice  took 
the  bridle  and  they  made  a  start.  It  was  somewhere  about 
eleven  o'clock,  and  he  hoped  to  make  the  journey  in  three 
hours,  even  if  they  should  be  unable  to  proceed  faster  than  a 
walk.  A  difficulty  that  he  had  not  thought  of  until  then,  how- 
ever, presented  itself  to  his  mind  and  for  a  moment  filled  him 
with  consternation  :  how  were  they  to  cross  the  Meuse  in  order 
to  get  to  the  left  bank  ?  The  bridge  at  Mouzon  would  certainly 
be  guarded.  At  last  he  remembered  that  there  was  a  ferry 
lower  down  the  stream,  at  Villers,  and  trusting  to  luck  to  be- 
friend him,  he  shaped  his  course  for  that  village,  striking  across 
the  meadows  and  tilled  fields  of  the  right  bank.  All  went  well 
enough  at  first ;  they  had  only  to  dodge  a  cavalry  patrol  which 
forced  them  to  hide  in  the  shadow  of  a  wall  and  remain  there 
half  an  hour.  Then  the  rain  began  to  come  down  in  earnest 
and  his  progress  became  more  laborious,  compelled  as  he  was 
to  tramp  through  the  sodden  fields  beside  the  horse,  which 
fortunately  showed  itself  to  be  a  fine  specimen  of  the  equine 
race,  and  perfectly  gentle.  On  reaching  Villers  he  found  that 
his  trust  in  the  blind  goddess,  Fortune,  had  not  been  misplaced  ; 
the  ferryman,  who,  at  that  late  hour,  had  just  returned  from 
setting  a  Bavarian  officer  across  the  river,  took  them  at  once 
and  landed  them  on  the  other  shore  without  delay  or  accident. 

And  it  was  not  until  they  reached  the  village,  where  they 
narrowly  escaped  falling  into  the  clutches  of  the  pickets  who 
were  stationed  along  the  entire  length  of  the  Remilly  road,  that 
their  dangers  and  hardships  really  commenced  ;  again  they 
were  obliged  to  take  to  the  fields,  feeling  their  way  along  blind 
paths  and  cart-tracks  that  could  scarcely  be  discerned  in  the 
darkness.  The  most  trivial  obstacle  sufficed  to  drive  them 
a  long  way  out  of  their  course.  They  squeezed  through  hedges, 
scrambled  down  and  up  the  steep  banks  of  ditches,  forced  a 
passage  for  themselves  through  the  densest  thickets.  Jean,  in 
whom  a  low  fever  had  developed  under  the  drizzling  rain,  had 
sunk  down  crosswise  on  his  saddle  in  a  condition  of  semi- 
consciousness,  holding  on  with  both  hands  by  the  horse's  mane, 
while  Maurice,  who  had  slipped  the  bridle  over  his  right  arm, 
bad  to  steady  him  by  the  legs  to  keep  him  from  tumbling  to 


THE  DOWNFALL. 

the  ground.  For  more  than  a  league,  for  two  long,  weary 
hours  that  seemed  like  an  eternity,  did  they  toil  onward  in 
this  fatiguing  way  ;  floundering,  stumbling,  slipping  in  such  a 
manner  that  it  seemed  at  every  moment  as  if  men  and  beast 
must  land  together  in  a  heap  at  the  bottom  of  some  descent. 
The  spectacle  they  presented  was  one  of  utter,  abject  misery, 
besplashed  with  mud,  the  horse  trembling  in  every  limb,  the 
man  upon  his  back  a  helpless  mass,  as  if  at  his  last  gasp,  the 
other,  wild-eyed  and  pale  as  death,  keeping  his  feet  only  by  an 
effort  of  fraternal  love.  Day  was  breaking  ;  it  was  not  far  from 
five  o'clock  when  at  last  they  came  to  Remilly. 

In  the  courtyard  of  his  little  farmhouse,  which  was  situated 
at  the  extremity  of  the  pass  of  Harancourt,  overlooking  the 
village,  Father  Fouchard  was  stowing  away  in  his  carriole  the 
carcasses  of  two  sheep  that  he  had  slaughtered  the  day  before. 
The  sight  of  his  nephew,  coming  to  him  at  that  hour  and  in 
that  sorry  plight,  caused  him  such  perturbation  of  spirit  that, 
after  the  first  explanatory  words,  he  roughly  cried  : 

"  You  want  me  to  take  you  in,  you  and  your  friend  ?  and 
then  settle  matters  with  the  Prussians  afterward,  I  suppose. 
I'm  much  obliged  to  you,  but  no*!  I  might  as  well  die  right 
straight  off  and  have  done  with  it." 

He  did  not  go  so  far,  however,  as  to  prohibit  Maurice  and 
Prosper  from  taking  Jean  from  the  horse  and  laying  him  on 
the  great  table  in  the  kitchen.  Silvine  ran  and  got  the  bolster 
from  her  bed  and  slipped  it  beneath  the  head  of  the  wounded 
man,  who  was  still  unconscious.  But  it  irritated  the  old  fellow 
to  see  the  man  lying  on  his  table;  he  grumbled  and  fretted, 
saying  that  the  kitchen  was  no  place  for  him  ;  why  did  they 
not  take  him  away  to  the  hospital  at  once  ?  since  there  for- 
tunately was  a  hospital  at  Remilly,  near  the  church,  in  the 
old  schoolhouse  ;  and  there  was  a  big  room  in  it,  with  every- 
thing nice  and  comfortable. 

"  To  the  hospital  !  "  Maurice  hotly  replied,  "  and  have 
the  Prussians  pack  him  off  to  Germany  as  soon  as  he  is  well, 
for  you  know  they  treat  all  the  wounded  as  prisoners  of  war. 
Do  you  take  me  for  a  fool,  uncle  ?  I  did  not  bring  him  here 
to  give  him  up." 

Things  were  beginning  to  look  dubious,  the  uncle  was 
threatening  to  pitch  them  out  upon  the  road,  when  someone 
mentioned  Henriette's  name. 

"  What  about  Henriette  ?  "  inquired  the  young  man. 

And  he  learned  that  his  sister  had  been  an  inmate  of  the 


DOWNFALL. 

house  at  Remilly  for  the  last  two  days  ;  her  affliction  had 
weighed  so  heavily  on  her  that  life  at  Sedan,  where  her  exist- 
ence had  hitherto  been  a  happy  one,  was  become  a  burden 
greater  than  she  could  bear.  Chancing  to  meet  with  Doctor 
Dalichamp  of  Raucourt,  with  whom  she  was  acquainted,  her 
conversation  with  him  had  been  the  means  of  bringing  her  to 
take  up  her  abode  with  Father  Fouchard,  in  whose  house  she 
had  a  little  bedroom,  in  order  to  devote  herself  entirely  to  the 
care  of  the  sufferers  in  the  neighboring  hospital.  That 
alone,  she  said,  would  serve  to  quiet  her  bitter  memories.  She 
paid  her  board  and  was  the  means  of  introducing  many  small 
comforts  into  the  life  of  the  farmhouse,  which  caused  Father 
Fouchard  to  regard  her  with  an  eye  of  favor.  The  weather 
was  always  fine  with  him,  provided  he  was  making  money. 

<c  Ah  !  so  my  sister  is  here,"  said  Maurice.  "  That  must 
have  been  what  M.  Delaherche  wished  to  tell  me,  with 
his  gestures  that  I  could  not  understand.  Very  well  ;  if  she 
is  here,  that  settles  it ;  we  shall  remain." 

Notwithstanding  his  fatigue  he  started  off  at  once  in  quest 
of  her  at  the  ambulance,  where  she  had  been  on  duty  during 
the  preceding  night,  while  the  uncle  cursed  his  luck  that  kept 
him  from  being  off  with  the  carriole  to  sell  his  mutton  among 
the  neighboring  villages,  so  long  as  the  confounded  business 
that  he  had  got  mixed  up  in  remained  unfinished. 

When  Maurice  returned  with  Henriette  they  caught  the  old 
man  making  a  critical  examination  of  the  horse,  that  Prosper 
had  led  away  to  the  stable.  The  animal  seemed  to  please 
him  ;  he  was  knocked  up,  but  showed  signs  of  strength  and 
endurance.  The  young  man  laughed  and  told  his  uncle  he 
might  have  him  as  a  gift  if  he  fancied  him,  while  Henriette, 
taking  her  relative  aside,  assured  him  Jean  should  be  no 
expense  to  him  ;  that  she  would  take  charge  of  him  and  nurse 
him,  and  he  might  have  the  little  room  behind  the  cow-stables, 
where  no  Prussian  would  ever  think  to  look  for  him.  And 
Father  Fouchard,  still  wearing  a  very  sulky  face  and  but  half 
convinced  that  there  was  anything  to  be  made  out  of  the  affair, 
finally  closed  the  discussion  by  jumping  into  his  carriole  and 
driving  off,  leaving  her  at  liberty  to  act  as  she  pleased. 

It  took  Henriette  but  a  few  minutes,  with  the  assistance  of 
Silvine  and  Prosper,  to  put  the  room  in  order;  then  she  had 
Jean  brought  in  and  they  laid  him  on  a  cool,  clean  bed,  he 
giving  no  sign  of  life  during  the  operation  save  to  mutter  some 
unintelligible  words.  He  opened  his  eyes  and  looked  about 


THE  DOWNFALL.  43 1 

him,  but  seemed  not  to  be  conscious  of  anyone's  presence  in 
the  room.  Maurice,  who  was  just  beginning  to  be  aware  how 
utterly  prostrated  he  was  by  his  fatigue,  was  drinking  a  glass 
of  wine  and  eating  a  bit  of  cold  meat,  left  over  from  the 
yesterday's  dinner,  when  Doctor  Dalichamp  came  in,  as  was 
his  daily  custom  previous  to  visiting  the  hospital,  and  the 
young  man,  in  his  anxiety  for  his  friend,  mustered  up  his 
strength  to  follow  him,  together  with  his  sister,  to  the  bedside 
of  the  patient. 

The  doctor  was  a  short,  thick-set  man,  with  a  big  round 
head,  on  which  the  hair,  as  well  as  the  fringe  of  beard  about 
his  face,  had  long  since  begun  to  be  tinged  with  gray.  The 
skin  of  his  ruddy,  mottled  face  was  tough  and  indurated  as  a 
peasant's,  spending  as  he  did  most  of  his  time  in  the  open  air, 
always  on  the  go  to  relieve  the  sufferings  of  his  fellow-crea- 
tures ;  while  the  large,  bright  eyes,  the  massive  nose,  indica- 
tive of  obstinacy,  and  the  benignant  if  somewhat  sensual  mouth 
bore  witness  to  the  lifelong  charities  and  good  works  of  the 
honest  country  doctor  ;  a  little  brusque  at  times,  not  a  man  of 
genius,  but  whom  many  years  of  practice  in  his  profession  had 
made  an  excellent  healer. 

When  he  had  examined  Jean,  still  in  a  comatose  state,  he 
murmured: 

"  I  am  very  much  afraid  that  amputation  will  be  necessary." 

The  words  produced  a  painful  impression  on  Maurice  and 
Henriette.  Presently,  however,  he  added  : 

"  Perhaps  we  may  be  able  to  save  the  leg,  but  it  will  require 
the  utmost  care  and  attention,  and  will  take  a  very  long  time. 
For  the  moment  his  physical  and  mental  depression  is  such 
that  the  only  thing  to  do  is  to  let  him  sleep.  To-morrow  we 
shall  know  more." 

Then,  having  applied  a  dressing  to  the  wound,  he  turned  to 
Maurice,  whom  he  had  known  in  bygone  days,  when  he  was  a 
boy. 

"  And  you,  my  good  fellow,  would  be  better  off  in  bed  than 
sitting  there." 

The  young  man  continued  to  gaze  before  him  into  vacancy, 
as  if  he  had  not  heard.  In  the  confused  hallucination  that  was 
due  to  his  fatigue  he  developed  a  kind  of  delirium,  a  super- 
sensitive  nervous  excitation  that  embraced  all  he  had  suffered 
in  mind  and  body  since  the  beginning  of  the  campaign.  The 
spectacle  of  his  friend's  wretched  state,  his  own  condition, 
scarce  less  pitiful,  defeated,  his  hands  tied,  good  for  nothing, 


432  THE  DOWNFALL. 

the  reflection  that  all  those  heroic  efforts  had  culminated  in 
such  disaster,  all  combined  to  incite  him  to  frantic  rebellion 
against  destiny.  At  last  he  spoke. 

"  It  is  not  ended  ;  no,  no  !  we  have  not  seen  the  end,  and  I 
must  go  away.  Since  he  must  lie  there  on  his  back  for  weeks, 
for  months,  perhaps,  I  cannot  stay  ;  I  must  go,  I  must  go  at 
once.  You  will  assist  me,  won't  you,  doctor  ?  you  will  supply 
me  with  the  means  to  escape  and  get  back  to  Paris  ?  " 

Pale  and  trembling,  Henriette  threw  her  arms  about  him  and 
caught  him  to  her  bosom. 

"What  words  are  those  you  speak  ?  enfeebled  as  you  are, 
after  all  the  suffering  you  have  endured  !  but  think  not  I  shall 
let  you  go  ;  you  shall  stay  here  with  me  !  Have  you  not  paid 
the  debt  you  owe  your  country  ?  and  should  you  not  think  of 
me,  too,  whom  you  would  leave  to  loneliness  ?  of  me,  who 
have  nothing  now  in  all  the  wide  world  save  you  ? " 

Their  tears  flowed  and  were  mingled.  They  held  each  other 
in  a  wild  tumultuous  embrace,  with  that  fond  affection  which, 
in  twins,  often  seems  as  if  it  antedated  existence.  But  for  all 
that  his  exaltation  did  not  subside,  but  assumed  a  higher  pitch. 

"  I  tell  you  I  must  go.  -Should  I  not  go  I  feel  I  should  die 
of  grief  and  shame.  You  can  have  no  idea  how  my  blood  boils 
and  seethes  in  my  veins  at  the  thought  of  remaining  here  in 
idleness.  I  tell  you  that  this  business  is  not  going  to  end  thus, 
that  we  must  be  avenged.  On  whom,  on  what  ?  Ah  !  that  I 
cannot  tell  ;  but  avenged  we  must  and  shall  be  for  such  misfor- 
tune, in  order  that  we  may  yet  have  courage  to  live  on  ! " 

Doctor  Dalichamp,  who  had  been  watching  the  scene  with 
intense  interest,  cautioned  Henriette  by  signal  to  make  no  reply. 
Maurice  would  doubtless  be  more  rational  after  he  should  have 
slept ;  and  sleep  he'  did,  all  that  day  and  all  the  succeeding 
night,  for  more  than  twenty  hours,  and  never  stirred  hand  or 
foot.  When  he  awoke  next  morning,  however,  he  was  as  in- 
flexible as  ever  in  his  determination  to  go  away.  The  fever 
had  subsided  ;  he  was  gloomy  and  restless,  in  haste  to  with- 
draw himself  from  influences  that  he  feared  might  weaken  his 
patriotic  fervor.  His  sister,  with  many  tears,  made  up  her 
mind  that  he  must  be  allowed  to  have  his  way,  and  Doctor 
Dalichamp,  when  he  came  to  make  his  morning  visit,  promised 
to  do  what  he  could  to  facilitate  the  young  man's  escape  by 
turning  over  to  him  the  papers  of  a  hospital  attendant  who  had 
died  recently  at  Raucourt.  It  was  arranged  that  Maurice 
should  don  the  gray  blouse  with  the  red  cross  of  Geneva  on 


THE  DOWNFALL.  433 

its  sleeve  and  pass  through  Belgium,  thence  to  make  his  way 
as  best  he  might  to  Paris,  access  to  which  was  as  yet  uninter- 
rupted. 

He  did  not  leave  the  house  that  day,  keeping  himself  out  of 
sight  and  waiting  for  night  to  come.  He  scarcely  opened  his 
mouth,  although  he  did  make  an  attempt  .to  enlist  the  new 
farm-hand  in  his  enterprise. 

"  Say,  Prosper,  don't  you  feel  as  if  you  would  like  to  go  back 
and  have  one  more  look  at  the  Prussians  ?  " 

The  ex-chasseur  d'Afrique,  who  was  eating  a  cheese  sand- 
wich, stopped  and  held  his  knife  suspended  in  the  air. 

"  It  don't  strike  me  that  it  is  worth  while,  from  what  we 
were  allowed  to  see  of  them  before.  Why  should  you  wish  me 
to  go  back  there,  when  the  only  use  our  generals  can  find  for 
the  cavalry  is  to  send  it  in  after  the  battle  is  ended  and  let  it 
be  cut  to  pieces  ?  No,  faith,  I'm  sick  of  the  business,  giving 
us  such  dirty  work  as  that  to  do  !  "  There  was  silence  between 
them  for  a  moment ;  then  he  went  on,  doubtless  to  quiet  the 
reproaches  of  his  conscience  as  a  soldier  :  "  And  then  the 
work  is  too  heavy  here  just  now ;  the  plowing  is  just  com- 
mencing, and  then  there'll  be  the  fall  sowing  to  be  looked  after. 
We  must  think  of  the  farm  work,  mustn't  we  ?  for  fighting  is 
well  enough  in  its  way,  but  what  would  become  of  us  if  we 
should  cease  to  till  the  ground  ?  You  see  how  it  is  ;  I  can't 
leave  my  work.  Not  that  I  am  particularly  in  love  with 
Father  Fouchard,  for  I  doubt  very  strongly  if  I  shall  ever  see 
the  color  of  his  money,  but  the  beasties  are  beginning  to  take 
to  me,  and  faith  !  when  I  was  up  there  in  the  Old  Field  this 
morning,  and  gave  a  look  at  that  d — d  Sedan  lying  yonder  in 
the  Distance,  you  can't  tell  how  good  it  made  me  feel  to  be 
guiding  my  oxen  and  driving  the  plow  through  the  furrow,  all 
alone  in  the  bright  sunshine." 

As  soon  as  it  was  fairly  dark,  Doctor  Dalichamp  came  driv- 
ing up  in  his  old  gig.  It  was  his  intention  to  see  Maurice  to  the 
frontier.  Father  Fouchard,  well  pleased  to  be  rid  of  one  of  his 
guests  at  least,  stepped  out  upon  the  road  to  watch  and  make 
sure  there  were  none  of  the  enemy's  patrols  prowling  in  the 
neighborhood,  while  Silvine  put  a  few  stitches  in  the  blouse  of 
the  defunct  ambulance  man,  on  the  sleeve  of  which  the  red 
cross  of  the  corps  was  prominently  displayed.  The  doctor, 
before  taking  his  place  in  the  vehicle,  examined  Jean's  leg 
anew,  but  could  not  as  yet  promise  that  he  would  be  able  to 
save  it.  The  patient  was  still  in  a  profound  lethargy,  recog- 


434  THE  DOWNFALL. 

nizing  no  one,  never  opening  his  mouth  to  speak,  and  Maurice 
was  about  to  leave  him  without  the  comfort  of  a  farewell,  when, 
bending  over  to  give  him  a  last  embrace,  he  saw  him  open  his 
eyes  to  their  full  extent ;  the  lips  parted,  and  in  a  faint  voice 
he  said  : 

"You  are  going  away?"  And  in  reply  to  their  astonished 
looks :  "  Yes,  I  heard  what  you  said,  though  I  could  not 
stir.  Take  the  remainder  of  the  money,  then.  Put  your 
hand  in  my  trousers'  pocket  and  take  it." 

Each  of  them  had  remaining  nearly  two  hundred  francs  of 
the  sum  they  had  received  from  the  corps  paymaster. 

But  Maurice  protested.  "  The  money  ! "  he  exclaimed. 
"  Why,  you  have  more  need  of  it  than  I,  who  have  the  use  of 
both  my  legs.  Two  hundred  francs  will  be  abundantly  suffi- 
cient to  see  me  to  Paris,  and  to  get  knocked  in  the  head  after- 
ward won't  cost  me  a  penny.  I  thank  you,  though,  old  fellow, 
all  the  same,  and  good-by  and  good-luck  to  you  ;  thanks,  too, 
for  having  always  been  so  good  and  thoughtful,  for,  had  it  not 
been  for  you,  I  should  certainly  be  lying  now  at  the  bottom  of 
some  ditch,  like  a  dead  dog." 

Jean  made  a  deprecating  gesture.  "  Hush.  You  owe  me 
nothing ;  we  are  quits.  Would  not  the  Prussians  have  gathered 
me  in  out  there  the  other  day  had  you  not  picked  me  up  and 
carried  me  off  on  your  back  ?  and  yesterday  again  you  saved 
me  from  their  clutches.  Twice  have  I  been  beholden  to  you 
for  my  life,  and  now  I  am  in  your  debt.  Ah,  how  unhappy 
I  shall  be  when  I  am  no  longer  with  you  !  "  His  voice  trem- 
bled and  tears  rose  to  his  eyes.  "  Kiss  me,  dear  boy  !  " 

They  embraced,  and,  as  it  had  been  in  the  wood  the  day 
before,  that  kiss  set  the  seal  to  the  brotherhood  of  daggers 
braved  in  each  other's  company,  those  few  weeks  of  soldier's 
life  in  common  that  had  served  to  bind  their  hearts  together 
with  closer  ties  than  years  of  ordinary  friendship  could  have 
done.  Days  of  famine,  sleepless  nights,  the  fatigue  of  the 
weary  march,  death  ever  present  to  their  eyes,  these  things 
made  the  foundation  on  which  their  affection  rested.  When 
two  hearts  have  thus  by  mutual  gift  bestowed  themselves  the 
one  upon  the  other  and  become  fused  and  molten  into  one,  is  it 
possible  ever  to  sever  the  connection  ?  But  the  kiss  they  had 
exchanged  the  day  before,  among  the  darkling  shadows  of  the 
forest,  was  replete  with  the  joy  of  their  new-found  safety  and 
the  hope  that  their  escape  awakened  in  their  bosom,  while  this 
was  the  kiss  of  parting,  full  of  anguish  and  doubt  unutterable. 


THE  DOWNFALL.  435 

Would  they  meet  again  some  day  ?  and  how,  under  what  cir- 
cumstances of  sorrow  or  of  gladness  ? 

Doctor  Dalichamp  had  clambered  into  his  gig  and  was  call- 
ing to  Maurice.  The  young  man  threw  all  his  heart  and  soul 
into  the  embrace  he  gave  his  sister  Henriette,  who,  pale  as 
death  in  her  black  mourning  garments,  looked  on  his  face  in 
silence  through  her  tears. 

"  He  whom  I  leave  to  your  care  is  my  brother.  Watch  over 
him,  love  him  as  I  love  him  !  " 


IV. 

JEAN'S  chamber  was  a  large  room,  with  floor  of  brick  and 
whitewashed  walls,  that  had  once  done  duty  as  a  store-room 
for  the  fruit  grown  on  the  farm.  A  faint,  pleasant  odor  of 
pears  and  apples  lingered  there  still,  and  for  furniture  there 
was  an  iron  bedstead,  a  pine  table  and  two  chairs,  to  say 
nothing  of  a  huge  old  walnut  clothes-press,  tremendously  deep 
and  wide,  that  looked  as  if  it  might  hold  an  army.  A  lazy, 
restful  quiet  reigned  there  all  day  long,  broken  only  by  the 
deadened  sounds  that  came  from  the  adjacent  stables,  the 
faint  lowing  of  the  cattle,  the  occasional  thud  of  a  hoof  upon 
the  earthen  floor.  The  window,  which  had  a  southern  aspect, 
let  in  a  flood  of  cheerful  sunlight  ;  all  the  view  it  afforded  was 
a  bit  of  hillside  and  a  wheat  field,  edged  by  a  little  wood. 
And  this  mysterious  chamber  was  so  well  hidden  from  prying 
eyes  that  never  a  one  in  all  the  world  would  have  suspected  its 
existence. 

As  it  was  to  be  her  kingdom,  Henriette  constituted  herself 
lawmaker  from  the  beginning.  The  regulation  was  that  no 
one  save  she  and  the  doctor  should  have  access  to  Jean  ;  this 
in  order  to  avert  suspicion.  Silvine,  even,  was  never  to  set 
foot  in  the  room  unless  by  direction.  Early  each  morning  the 
two  women  came  in  and  put  things  to  rights,  and  after  that, 
all  the  long  day,  the  door  was  as  impenetrable  as  if  it  had  been 
a  wall  of  stone.  And  thus  it  was  that  Jean  found  himself 
suddenly  secluded  from  the  world,  after  many  weeks  of  tumult- 
uous activity,  seeing  no  face  save  that  of  the  gentle  woman 
whose  footfall  on  the  floor  gave  back  no  sound.  She  appeared 
to  him,  as  he  had  beheld  her  for  the  first  time  down  yonder  in 
Sedan,  like  an  apparition,  with  her  somewhat  large  mouth, 
her  delicate,  small  features,  her  hair  the  hue  of  ripened  grain, 


436  THE  DOWNFALL. 

hovering  about  his  bedside  and  ministering  to  his  wants  with 
an  air  of  infinite  goodness. 

\  The  patient's  fever  was  so  violent  during  the  first  few  days 
that  Henriette  scarce  ever  left  him.  Doctor  Dalichamp 
dropped  in  every  morning  on  his  way  to  the  hospital  and  ex- 
amined and  dressed  the  wound.  As  the  ball  had  passed  out, 
after  breaking  the  tibia,  he  was  surprised  that  the  case  pre- 
sented no  better  aspect ;  he  feared  there  was  a  splinter  of  the 
bone  remaining  there  that  he  had  not  succeeded  in  finding 
with  the  probe,  and  that  might  make  resection  necessary.  He 
mentioned  the  matter  to  Jean,  but  the  young  man  could  not 
endure  the  thought  of  an  operation  that  would  leave  him 
with  one  leg  shorter  than  the  other  and  lame  him  permanently. 
No,  no  !  he  would  rather  die  than  be  a  cripple  for  life.  So 
the  good  doctor,  leaving  the  wound  to  develop  further  symp- 
toms, confined  himself  for  the  present  to  applying  a  dressing 
of  lint  saturated  with  sweet  oil  and  phenic  acid  having  first  in- 
serted a  drain — an  India  rubber  tube — to  carry  off  the  pus. 
He  frankly  told  his  patient,  however,  that  unless  he  submitted 
to  an  operation  he  must  not  hope  to  have  the  use  of  his  limb 
for  a  very  long  time.  Still,  after  the  second  week,  the  fever 
subsided  and  the  young  man's  general  condition  was  im- 
proved, so  long  as  he  could  be  content  to  rest  quiet  in  his  bed. 
Then  Jean's  and  Henriette's  relations  began  to  be  estab- 
lished on  a  more  systematic  basis.  Fixed  habits  commenced 
to  prevail ;  it  seemed  to  them  that  they  had  never  lived  other- 
wise— that  they  were  to  go  on  living  forever  in  that  way.  All 
the  hours  and  moments  that  she  did  not  devote  to  the' ambu- 
lance were  spent  with  him  ;  she  saw  to  it  that  he  had  his  food 
and  drink  at  proper  intervals.  She  assisted  him  to  turn  in  bed 
with  a  strength  of  wrist  that  no  one,  seeing  her  slender  arms, 
would  have  supposed  was  in  her.  At  times  they  would  con- 
verse ;  but  as  a  general  thing,  especially  in  the  earlier  days, 
they  had  not  much  to  say.  They  never  seemed  to  tire  of  each 
other's  company,  though.  On  the  whole  it  was  a  very  pleas- 
ant life  they  led  in  that  calm,  restful  atmosphere,  he  with  the 
horrible  scenes  of  the  battlefield  still  fresh  in  his  memory,  she 
in  her  widow's  weeds,  her  heart  bruised  and  bleeding  with  the 
great  loss  she  had  sustained.  At  first  he  had  experienced  a 
sensation  of  embarrassment,  for  he  felt  she  was  his  superior, 
almost  a  lady,  indeed,  while  he  had  never  been  aught  more 
than  a  common  soldier  and  a  peasant.  He  could  barely  read 
and  write.  When  finally  he  came  to  see  that  she  affected  no 


THE  DOWNFALL.  437 

airs  of  superiority,  but  treated  him  on  the  footing  of  an 
equal,  his  confidence  returned  to  him  in  a  measure  and  he 
showed  himself  in  his  true  colors,  as  a  man  of  intelligence  by 
reason  of  his  sound,  unpretentious  common  sense.  Besides, 
he  was  surprised  at  times  to  think  he  could  note  a  change  was 
gradually  coming  over  him  ;  it  seemed  to  him  that  his  mind 
was  less  torpid  than  it  had  been,  that  it  was  clearer  and  more 
active,  that  he  had  novel  ideas  in  his  head,  and  more  of  them  ; 
could  it  be  that  the  abominable  life  he  had  been  leading  for 
the  last  two  months,  his  horrible  sufferings,  physical  and  moral, 
had  exerted  a  refining  influence  on  him  ?  But  that  which  as- 
sisted him  most  to  overcome  his  shyness  was  to  find  that  she 
was  really  not  so  very  much  wiser  than  he.  She  was  but  a  lit- 
tle child  when,  at  her  mother's  death,  she  became  the  house- 
hold drudge,  with  her  three  men  to  care  for,  as  she  herself 
expressed  it — her  grandfather,  her  father,  and  her  brother — 
and  she  had  not  had  the  time  to  lay  in  a  large  stock  of  learning. 
She  could  read  and  write,  could  spell  words  that  were  not  too 
long,  and  "do  sums,"  if  they  were  not  too  intricate  ;  and  that 
was  the  extent  of  her  acquirement.  And  if  she  continued  to 
intimidate  him  still,  if  he  considered  her  far  and  away  the 
superior  of  all  other  women  upon  earth,  it  was  because  he 
knew  the  ineffable  tenderness,  the  goodness  of  heart,  the  un- 
flinching courage,  that  animated  that  frail  little  body,  who 
went  about  her  duties  silently  and  met  them  as  if  they  had 
been  pleasures. 

They  had  in  Maurice  a  subject  of  conversation  that  was  of 
common  interest  to  them  both  and  of  which  they  never  wearied. 
It  was  to  Maurice's  friend,  his  brother,  to  whom  she  was 
devoting  herself  thus  tenderly,  the  brave,  kind  man,  so  ready 
with  his  aid  in  time  of  trouble,  who  she  felt  had  made  her  so 
many  times  his  debtor.  She  was  full  to  overflowing  with  a 
sentiment  of  deepest  gratitude  and  affection,  that  went  on 
widening  and  deepening  as  she  came  to  know  him  better  and 
recognize  his  sterling  qualities  of  head  and  heart,  and  he, 
whom  she  was  tending  like  a  little  child,  was  actuated  by  such 
grateful  sentiments  that  he  would  have  liked  to  kiss  her  hands 
each  time  she  gave  him  a  cup  of  bouillon.  Day  by  day  did 
this  bond  of  tender  sympathy  draw  them  nearer  to  each  other 
in  that  profound  solitude  amid  which  they  lived,  harassed  by 
an  anxiety  that  they  shared  in  common.  When  he  had  utterly 
exhausted  his  recollections  of  the  dismal  march  from  Rheimsto 
Sedan,  to  the  particulars  of  which  she  never  seemed  to  tire  of 


43 8  THE  DOWNFALL. 

listening,  the  same  question  always  rose  to  their  lips :  what 
was  Maurice  doing  then  ?  why  did  he  not  write  ?  Could  it  be 
that  the  blockade  of  Paris  was  already  complete,  and  was  that 
the  reason  why  they  received  no  news  ?  They  had  as  yet  had 
but  one  letter  from  him,  written  at  Rouen,  three  days  after  his 
leaving  them,  in  which  he  briefly  stated  that  he  had  reached 
that  city  on  his  way  to  Paris,  after  a  long  and  devious  journey. 
And  then  for  a  week  there  had  been  no  further  word  ;  the 
silence  had  remained  unbroken. 

In  the  morning,  after  Doctor  Dalichamp  had  attended  to 
his  patient,  he  liked  to  sit  a  while  and  chat,  putting  his  cares 
aside  for  the  moment.  Sometimes  he  also  returned  at  evening 
and  made  a  longer  visit,  and  it  was  in  this  way  that  they 
learned  what  was  going  on  in  the  great  world  outside  their 
peaceful  solitude  and  the  terrible  calamities  that  were  desolating 
their  country.  He  was  their  only  source  of  intelligence  ;  his 
heart,  which  beat  with  patriotic  ardor,  overflowed  with  rage 
and  grief  at  every  fresh  defeat,  and  thus  it  was  that  his  sole 
topic  of  conversation  was  the  victorious  progress  of  the  Prus- 
sians, who,  since  Sedan,  had  spread  themselves  over  France 
like  the  waves  of  some  black  ocean.  Each  day  brought  its 
own  tidings  of  disaster,  and  resting  disconsolately  on  one  »f  the 
two  chairs  that  stood  by  the  bedside,  he  would  tell  in  mournful 
tones  and  with  trembling  gestures  of  the  increasing  gravity  of 
the  situation.  Oftentimes  he  came  with  his  pockets  stuffed 
with  Belgian  newspapers,  which  he  would  leave  behind  him 
when  he  went  away.  And  thus  the  echoes  of  defeat,  days, 
weeks,  after  the  event,  reverberated  in  that  quiet  room,  serving 
to  unite  yet  more  closely  in  community  of  sorrow  the  two  poor 
sufferers  who  were  shut  within  its  walls. 

It  was  from  some  of  those  old  newspapers  that  Henriette 
read  to  Jean  the  occurrences  at  Metz,  the  Titanic  struggle 
that  was  three  times  renewed,  separated  on  each  occasion  by  a 
day's  interval.  The  story  was  already  five  weeks  old,  but  it 
was  new  to  him,  and  he  listened  with  a  bleeding  heart  to  the 
repetition  of  the  miserable  narrative  of  defeat  to  which  he  was 
not  a  stranger.  In  the  deathly  stillness  of  the  room  the  in- 
cidents of  the  woeful  tale  unfolded  themselves  as  Henriette, 
with  the  sing-song  enunciation  of  a  schoolgirl,  picked  out  her 
words  and  sentences.  When,  after  Froeschwiller  and  Spick- 
eren,  the  ist  corps,  routed  and  broken  into  fragments,  had 
swept  away  with  it  the  5th,  the  other  corps  stationed  along  the 
frontier  en  Echelon  from  Metz  to  Bitche,  first  wavering,  then  re- 


THE  DOWNFALL.  439 

treating  in  their  consternation  at  those  reverses,  had  ultimately 
concentrated  before  the  intrenched  camp  on  the  right  bank  of 
the  Moselle.  But  what  waste,  of  precious  time  was  there, 
when  they  should  not  have  lost  a  moment  in  retreating  on 
Paris,  a  movement  that  was  presently  to  be  attended  with  such 
difficulty  !  The  Emperor  had  been  compelled  to  turn  over 
the  supreme  command  to  Marshal  Bazaine,  to  whom  every- 
one looked  with  confidence  for  a  victory.  Then,  on  the  i4th* 
came  the  affair  of  Borny,  when  the  army  was  attacked  at  the 
moment  when  it  was  at  last  about  to  cross  the  stream,  having 
to  sustain  the  onset  of  two  German  armies  :  Steinmetz's,  which 
was  encamped  in  observation  in  front  of  the  intrenched  camp, 
and  Prince  Frederick  Charles's,  which  had  passed  the  river 
higher  up  and  come  down  along  the  left  bank  in  order  to  bar 
the  French  from  access  to  their  country  ;  Borny,  where  the 
firing  did  not  begin  until  it  was  three  o'clock  ;  Borny,  that 
barren  victory,  at  the  end  of  which  the  French  remained  mas- 
ters of  their  positions,  but  which  left  them  astride  the  Moselle, 
tied  hand  and  foot,  while  the  turning  movement  of  the  second 
German  army  was  being  successfully  accomplished.  After 
that,  on  the  j6th,  was  the  battle  of  Re"zonville  ;  all  our  corps 
were  at  last  across  the  stream,  although,  owing  to  the  con- 
fusion that  prevailed  at  the  junction  of  the  Mars-la-Tour  and 
Etain  roads,  which  the  Prussians  had  gained  possession  of 
early  in  the  morning  by  a  brilliant  movement  of  their  cavalry 
and  artillery,  the  3d  and  4th  corps  were  hindered  in  their 
march  and  unable  to  get  up  ;  a  slow,  dragging,  confused  battle, 
which,  up  to  two  o'clock,  Bazaine,  with  only  a  handful  of  men 
opposed  to  him,  should  have  won,  but  which  he  wound  up  by 
losing,  thanks  to  his  inexplicable  fear  of  being  cut  off  from 
Metz  ;  a  battle  of  immense  extent,  spreading  over  leagues  of 
hill  and  plain,  where  the  French,  attacked  in  front  and  flank, 
seemed  willing  to  do  almost  anything  except  advance,  affording 
the  enemy  time  to  concentrate  and  to  all  appearances  co-operat- 
ing with  them  to  ensure  the  success  of  the  Prussian  plan,  which 
was  to  force  their  withdrawal  to  the  other  side  of  the  river 
And  on  the  i8th,  after  their  retirement  to  the  intrenched 
camp,  Saint-Privat  was  fought,  the  culmination  of  the  gigantic 
struggle,  where  the  line  of  battle  extended  more  than  eight 
miles  in  length,  two  hundred  thousand  Germans  with  seven 
hundred  guns  arrayed  against  a  hundred  and  twenty  thousand 
French  with  but  five  hundred  guns,  the  Germans  facing 
toward  Germany,  the  French  toward  France,  as  if  invaders 
*  August.— TR. 


44°  THE  DOWNFALL. 

and  invaded  had  inverted  their  roles  in  the  singular  tactical 
movements  that  had  been  going  on  ;  after  two  o'clock  the 
conflict  was  most  sa^mnary,  the  Prussian  Guard  being  re- 
pulsed with  tremendous'  slaughter  and  Bazaine,  with  a  left 
wing  that  withstood  the  onsets  of  the  enemy  like  a  wall  of 
adamant,  for  a  long  time  victorious,  up  to  the  moment,  at 
the  approach  of  evening,  when  the  weaker  right  wing  was 
compelled  by  the  terrific  losses  it  had  sustained  to  abandon 
Saint-Privat,  involving  in  its  rout  the  remainder  of  the  army, 
which,  defeated  and  driven  back  under  the  walls  of  Metz,  was 
thenceforth  to  be  imprisoned  in  a  circle  of  flame  and  iron. 

As  Henriette  pursued  her  reading  Jean  momently  inter- 
rupted her  to  say  : 

"  Ah,  well !  and  to  think  that  we  fellows,  after  leaving 
Rheims,  were  looking  for  Bazaine  !  They  were  always  telling 
us  he  was  coming  ;  now  I  can  see  why  he  never  came  !  " 

The  marshal's  despatch,  dated  the  ipth,  after  the  battle 
of  Saint-Privat,  in  which  he  spoke  of  resuming  his  retrograde 
movement  by  way  of  Montmedy,  that  despatch  which  had  for 
its  effect  the  advance  of  the  army  of  Chalons,  would  seem  to 
have  been  nothing  more  than  the  report  of  a  defeated  general, 
desirous  to  present  matters  under  their  most  favorable  aspect, 
and  it  was  not  until  a  considerably  later  period,  the  2pth,  when 
the  tidings  of  the  approach  of  this  relieving  army  had  reached 
him  through  the  Prussian  lines,  that  he  attempted  a  final  effort, 
on  the  right  bank  this  time,  at  Noiseville,  but  in  such  a  feeble, 
half-hearted  way  that  on  the  ist  of  September,  the  day  when 
the  army  of  Chalons  was  annihilated  at  Sedan,  the  army  of 
Metz  fell  back  to  advance  no  more,  and  became  as  if  dead  to 
France.  The  marshal,  whose  conduct  up  to  that  time  may 
fairly  be  characterized  as  that  of  a  leader  of  only  moderate 
ability,  neglecting  his  opportunities  and  failing  to  move  when 
the  roads  were  open  to  him,  after  that  blockaded  by  forces 
greatly  superior  to  his  own,  was  now  about  to  be  seduced  by 
alluring  visions  of  political  greatness  and  become  a  con- 
spirator and  a  traitor. 

But  in  the  papers  that  Doctor  Dalichamp  brought  them 
Bazaine  was  still  the  great  man  and  the  gallant  soldier,  to  whom 
France  looked  for  her  salvation. 

And  Jean  wanted  certain  passages  read  to  him  again,  in  order 
that  he  might  more  clearly  understand  how  it  was  that  while 
the  third  German  army,  under  the  Crown  Prince  of  Prussia,  had 
been  leading  them  such  a  dance,  and  the  first  and  second  were 


THE  DOWNFALL.  441 

besieging  Metz,  the  latter  were  so  strong  in  men  and  guns  that 
it  had  been  possible  to  form  from  them  a  fourth  army,  which, 
under  the  Crown  Prince  of  Saxony,  had  done  so  much  to  de- 
cide the  fortune  of  the  day  at  Sedan.  Then,  having  obtained 
the  information  he  desired,  resting  on  that  bed  of  suffering  to 
which  his  wound  condemned  him,  he  forced  himself  to  hope 
in  spite  of  all. 

"  That's  how  it  is,  you  see  ;  we  were  not  so  strong  as  they  ! 
No  one  can  ever  get  at  the  rights  of  such  matters  while  the 
fighting  is  going  on.  Never  mind,  though  ;  you  have  read  the 
figures  as  the  newspapers  give  them  :  Bazaine  has  a  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  men  with  him,  he  has  three  hundred  thou- 
sand small  arms  and  more  than  five  hundred  pieces  of  artil- 
lery ;  take  my  word  for  it,  he  is  not  going  to  let  himself  be 
caught  in  such  a  scrape  as  we  were.  The  fellows  all  say  he  is 
a  tough  man  to  deal  with  ;  depend  on  it  he's  fixing  up  a  nasty 
dose  for  the  enemy,  and  he'll  make  'em  swallow  it." 

Henriette  nodded  her  head  and  appeared  to  agree  with  him, 
in  order  to  keep  him  in  a  cheerful  frame  of  mind.  She  could 
not  follow  those  complicated  operations  of  the  armies,  but 
had  a  presentiment  of  coming,  inevitable  evil.  Her  voice  was 
fresh  and  clear  ;  she  could  have  gone  on  reading  thus  for  hours, 
only  too  glad  to  have  it  in  her  power  to  relieve  the  tedium  of 
his  long  day,  though  at  times,  when  she  came  to  some  narra- 
tive of  slaughter,  her  eyes  would  fill  with  tears  that  made  the 
words  upon  the  printed  page  a  blur.  She  was  doubtless 
thinking  of  her  husband's  fate,  how  he  had  been  shot  down 
at  the  foot  of  the  wall  and  his  body  desecrated  by  the  touch 
of  the  Bavarian  officer's  boot. 

"If  it  gives  you  such  pain,"  Jean  said  in  surprise,  "you 
need  not  read  the  battles  ;  skip  them." 

But,  gentle  and  self-sacrificing  as  ever,  she  recovered  her- 
self immediately. 

"  No,  no  ;  don't  mind  my  weakness ;  I  assure  you  it  is  a 
pleasure  to  me." 

One  evening  early  in  October,  when  the  wind  was  blowing 
a  small  hurricane  outside,  she  came  in  from  the  ambulance 
and  entered  the  room  with  an  excited  air,  saying  : 

"  A  letter  from  Maurice  !  the  doctor  just  gave  it  me." 

With  each  succeeding  morning  the  twain  had  been  becom- 
ing more  and  more  alarmed  that  the  young  man  sent  them  no 
word,  and  now  that  for  a  whole  week  it  had  been  rumored 
everywhere  that  the  investment  of  Paris  was  complete,  they 


442  THE  DOWNFALL. 

were  more  disturbed  in  mind  than  ever,  despairing  of  receiv- 
ing tidings,  asking  themselves  what  could  have  happened  him 
after  he  left  Rouen.  And  now  the  reason  of  the  long  silence 
was  made  clear  to  them:  the  letter  that  he  had  addressed 
from  Paris  to  Doctor  Dalichamp  on  the  i8th,  the  very  day 
that  ended  railway  communication  with  Havre,  had  gone 
astray  and  had  only  reached  them  at  last  by  a  miracle,  after  a 
long  and  circuitous  journey. 

"  Ah,  the  dear  boy  ! "  said  Jean,  radiant  with  delight. 
"  Read  it  to  me,  quick  !  " 

The  wind  was  howling  and  shrieking  more  dismally  than 
ever,  £he  window  of  the  apartment  strained  and  rattled  as  if 
someone  were  trying  to  force  an  entrance.  Henriette  went 
and  got  the  little  lamp,  and  placing  it  on  the  table  beside  the 
bed  applied  herself  to  the  reading  of  the  missive,  so  close  to 
Jean  that  their  faces  almost  touched.  There  was  a  sensation 
of  warmth  and  comfort  in  the  peaceful  room  amid  the  roaring 
of  the  storm  that  raged  without. 

It  was  a  long  letter  of  eight  closely  filled  pages,  in  which 
Maurice  first  told  how,  soon  after  his  arrival  on  the  i6th,  he 
had  had  the  good  fortune  to  get  into  a  line  regiment  that  was 
being  recruited  up  to  its  full  strength.  Then,  reverting  to 
facts  of  history,  he  described  in  brief  but  vigorous  terms  the 
principal  events  of  that  month  of  terror  :  how  Paris,  recover- 
ing her  sanity  in  a  measure  after  the  madness  into  which  the 
disasters  of  Wissembourg  and  Froeschwiller  had  driven  her, 
had  comforted  herself  with  hopes  of  future  victories,  had 
cheered  herself  with  fresh  illusions,  such  as  lying  stories  of 
the  army's  successes,  the  appointment  of  Bazaine  to  the  chief 
command,  the  levee  en  masse,  bogus  dispatches,  which  the 
ministers  themselves  read  from  the  tribune,  telling  of  heca- 
tombs of  slaughtered  Prussians.  And  then  he  went  on  to  tell 
how,  on  the  $d  of  September,  the  thunderbolt  had  a  second 
time  burst  over  the  unhappy  capital  :  all  hope  gone,  the  mis- 
informed, abused,  confiding  city  dazed  by  that  crushing  blow 
of  destiny,  the  cries  :  "  Down  with  the  Empire  !  "  that  re- 
sounded at  night  upon  the  boulevards,  the  brief  and  gloomy 
session  of  the  Chamber  at  which  Jules  Favre  read  the  draft  of 
the  bill  that  conceded  the  popular  demand.  Then  on  the  next 
day,  the  ever-memorable  4th  of  September,  was  the  upheaval 
of  all  things,  the  second  Empire  swept  from  existence  in 
atonement  for  its  mistakes  and  crimes,  the  entire  population 
of  the  capital  in  the  streets,  a  torrent  of  humanity  a.  half  a 


THE  DOWNFALL.  443 

million  strong  filling  the  Place  de  la  Concorde  and  streaming 
onward  in  the  bright  sunshine  of  that  beautiful  Sabbath  day  to 
the  great  gates  of  the  Corps  Legislatif,  feebly  guarded  by  a 
handful  of  troops,  who  up-ended  their  muskets  in  the  air  in 
token  of  sympathy  with  the  populace — smashing  in  the  doors, 
swarming  into  the  assembly  chambers,  whence  Jules  Favre, 
Gambetta  and  other  deputies  of  the  Left  were  even  then  on  the 
point  of  departing  to  proclaim  the  Republic  at  the  Hotel  de 
Ville  ;  while  on  the  Place  Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois  a  little 
wicket  of  the  Louvre  opened  timidly  and  gave  exit  to  the 
Empress-regent,  attired  in  black  garments  and  accompanied  by 
a  single  female  friend,  both  the  women  trembling  with  affright 
and  striving  to  conceal  themselves  in  the  depths  of  the  public 
cab,  which  went  jolting  with  its  scared  inmates  from  the 
Tuileries,  through  whose  apartments  the  mob  was  at  that  mo- 
ment streaming.  On  the  same  day  Napoleon  III.  left  the  inn 
at  Bouillon,  where  he  had  passed  his  first  night  of  exile,  bend- 
ing his  way  toward  Wilhelmshohe. 

Here  Jean,  a  thoughtful  expression  on  his  face,  interrupted 
Henriette. 

"  Then  we  have  a  republic  now?  So  much  the  better,  if  it 
is  going  to  help  us  whip  the  Prussians  !  " 

But  he  shook  his  head  ;  he  had  always  been  taught  to  look 
distrustfully  on  republics  when  he  was  a  peasant.  And  then, 
too,  it  did  not  seem  to  him  a  good  thing  that  they  should  be 
of  differing  minds  when  the  enemy  was  fronting  them.  After 
all,  though,  it  was  manifest  there  had  to  be  a  change  of  some 
kind,  since  everyone  knew  the  Empire  was  rotten  to  the  core 
and  the  people  would  have  no  more  of  it. 

Henriette  finished  the  letter,  which  concluded  with  a  men- 
tion of  the  approach  of  the  German  armies.  .On  the  i3th,  the 
day  when  a  committee  of  the  Government  of  National  Defense 
had  established  its  quarters  at  Tours,  their  advanced  guards 
had  been  seen  at  Lagny,  to  the  east  of  Paris.  On  the  i4th 
and  1 5th  they  were  at  the  very  gates  of  the  city,  at  Creteil 
and  Jotnville-le-Pont.  On  the  i8th,  however,  the  day  when 
Maurice  wrote,  he  seemed  to  have  ceased  to  believe  in  the 
possibility  of  maintaining  a  strict  blockade  of  Paris  ;  he  ap- 
peared to  be  under  the  influence  of  one  of  his  hot  fits  of  blind 
confidence,  characterizing  the  siege  as  a  senseless  and  impu- 
dent enterprise  that  would  come  to  an  ignominious  end  before 
they  were  three  weeks  older,  relying  on  the  armies  that  the 
provinces  would  surely  send  to  their  relief,  to  say  nothing  of 


444  THE  DOWNFALL. 

the  army  of  Metz.  that  was  already  advancing  by  way  of  Ver- 
dun and  Rheims.  And  the  links  of  the  iron  chain  that  their 
enemies  had  forged  for  them  had  been  riveted  together;  it  en- 
compassed Paris,  and  now  Paris  was  a  city  shut  off  from  all  the 
world,  whence  no  letter,  no  word  of  tidings  longer  came,  the 
huge  prison-house  of  two  millions  of  living  beings,  who  were 
to  their  neighbors  as  if  they  were  not. 

Henriette  was  oppressed  by  a  sense  of  melancholy.  "  Ah, 
merciful  heaven  !  "  she  murmured,  "  how  long  will  all  this  last, 
and  shall  we  ever  see  him  more  !  " 

A  more  furious  blast  bent  the  sturdy  trees  out-doors  and  made 
the  timbers  of  the  old  farmhouse  creak  and  groan.  Think  of 
the  sufferings  the  poor  fellows  would  have  to  endure  should 
the  winter  be  severe,  righting  in  the  snow,  without  bread,  with- 
out fire  ! 

"  Bah  !  "  rejoined  Jean,  "  that's  a  very  nice  letter  of  his,  and 
it's  a  comfort  to  have  heard  from  him.  We  must  not  despair." 

Thus,  day  by  day,  the  month  of  October  ran  its  course,  with 
gray  melancholy  skies,  and  if  ever  the  wind  went  down  for  a 
short  space  it  was  only  to  bring  the  clouds  back  in  darker, 
heavier  masses.  Jean's  wound  was  healing  very  slowly  ;  the 
outflow  from  the  drain  was  not  the  "  laudable  pus  "  which 
would  have  permitted  the  doctor  to  remove  the  appliance, 
and  the  patient  was  in  a  very  enfeebled  state,  refusing,  how- 
ever, to  be  operated  on  in  his  dread  of  being  left  a  cripple. 
An  atmosphere  of  expectant  resignation,  disturbed  at  times 
by  transient  misgivings  for  which  there  was  no  apparent  cause, 
pervaded  the  slumberous  little  chamber,  to  which  the  tidings 
from  abroad  came  in  vague,  indeterminate  shape,  like  the  dis- 
torted visions  of  an  evil  dream.  The  hateful  war,  with  its 
butcheries  and  disasters,  was  still  raging  out  there  in  the  world, 
in  some  quarter  unknown  to  them,  without  their  ever  being 
able  to  learn  the  real  course  of  events,  without  their  being 
conscious  of  aught  save  the  wails  and  groans  that  seemed  to 
fill  the  air  from  their  mangled,  bleeding  country.  And  the 
dead  leaves  rustled  in  the  paths  as  the  wind  swept  them  before 
it  beneath  the  gloomy  sky,  and  over  the  naked  fields  brooded 
a  funereal  silence,  broken  only  by  the  cawing  of  the  crows, 
presage  of  a  bitter  winter. 

A  principal  subject  of  conversation  between  them  at  this 
time  was  the  hospital,  which  Henriette  never  left  except  to  come 
and  cheer  Jean  with  her  company.  When  she  came  in  at 
evening  he  would  question  her,  making  tae  acquaintance  of 


THE  DOWNFALL.  445 

each  of  her  charges,  desirous  to  know  who  would  die  and  who 
recover  ;  while  she,  whose  heart  and  soul  were  in  her  occupa- 
tion, never  wearied,  but  related  the  occurrences  of  the  day  in 
their  minutest  details. 

"  Ah,"  she  would  always  say,  "  the  poor  boys,  the  poor 
boys  ! " 

It  was  not  the  ambulance  of  the  battlefield,  where  the  blood 
from  the  wounded  came  in  a  fresh,  bright  stream,  where  the 
flesh  the  surgeon's  knife  cut  into  was  firm  and  healthy  ;  it  was 
the  decay  and  rottenness  of  the  hospital,  where  the  odor  of 
fever  and  gangrene  hung  in  the  air,  damp  with  the  exhalations 
of  the  lingering  convalescents  and  those  who  were  dying  by 
inches.  Doctor  Dalichamp  had  had  the  greatest  difficulty  in 
procuring  the  necessary  beds,  sheets  and  pillows,  and  every  day 
he  had  to  accomplish  miracles  to  keep  his  patients  alive,  to 
obtain  for  them  bread,  meat  and  desiccated  vegetables,  to  say 
nothing  of  bandages,  compresses  and  other  appliances.  As 
the  Prussian  officers  in  charge  of  the  military  hospital  in 
Sedan  had  refused  him  everything,  even  chloroform,  he  was 
accustomed  to  send  to  Belgium  for  what  he  required.  And  yet 
he  had  made  no  discrimination  between  French  and  Germans; 
he  was  even  then  caring  for  a  dozen  Bavarian  soldiers  who 
had  been  brought  in  there  from  Bazeilles.  Those  bitter  ad- 
versaries who  but  a  short  time  before  had  been  trying  to  cut 
each  other's  throat  now  lay  side  by  side,  their  passions  calmed 
by  suffering.  And  what  abodes  of  distress  and  misery  they 
were,  those  two  long  rooms  in  the  old  schoolhouse  of  Remilly, 
where,  in  the  crude  light  that  streamed  through  the  tall  win- 
dows, some  thirty  beds  in  each  were  arranged  on  either  side 
of  a  narrow  passage. 

As  late  even  as  ten  days  after  the  battle  wounded  men  had 
been  discovered  in  obscure  corners,  where  they  had  been  over- 
looked, and  brought  in  for  treatment.  There  were  four  who 
had  crawled  into  a  vacant  house  at  Balan  and  remained  there, 
without  attendance,  kept  from  starving  in  some  way,  no  one 
could  tell  how,  probably  by  the  charity  of  some  kind-hearted 
neighbor,  and  their  wounds  were  alive  with  maggots;  they  were 
as  dead  men,  their  system  poisoned  by  the  corruption  that  ex- 
uded from  their  wounds.  There  was  a  purulency,  that  noth- 
ing could  check  or  overcome,  that  hovered  over  the  rows  of 
beds  and  emptied  them.  As  soon  as  the  door  was  passed  one's 
nostrils  were  assailed  by  the  odor  of  mortifying  flesh.  From 
drains  inserted  in  festering  sores  fetid  matter  trickled,  drop  by 


446  THE  DOWNFALL. 

drop.  Oftentimes  it  became  necessary  to  reopen  old  wounds 
in  order  to  extract  a  fragment  of  bone  that  had  been  over- 
looked. Then  abscesses  would  form,  to  break  out  after  an  in- 
terval in  some  remote  portion  of  the  body.  Their  strength  all 
gone,  reduced  to  skeletons,  with  ashen,  clayey  faces,  the  mis- 
erable wretches  suffered  the  torments  of  the  damned.  Some, 
so  weakened  they  could  scarcely  draw  their  breath,  lay  all 
day  long  upon  their  back,  with  tight  shut,  darkened  eyes,  like 
corpses  in  which  decomposition  had  already  set  in;  while  oth- 
ers, denied  the  boon  of  sleep,  tossing  in  restless  wakefulness, 
drenched  with  the  cold  sweat  that  streamed  from  every  pore, 
raved  like  lunatics,  as  if  their  suffering  had  made  them  mad. 
And  whether  they  were  calm  or  violent,  it  mattered  not  ;  when 
the  contagion  of  the  fever  reached  them,  then  was  the  end  at 
hand,  the  poison  doing  its  work,  flying  from  bed  to  bed,  sweep- 
ing them  all  away  in  one  mass  of  corruption. 

But  worst  of  all  was  the  condemned  cell,  the  room  to  which 
were  assigned  those  who  were  attacked  by  dysentery,  typhus  or 
small-pox.  There  were  many  cases  of  black  small-pox.  The 
patients  writhed  and  shrieked  in  unceasing  delirium,  or  sat 
erect  in  bed  with  the  look  of  specters.  Others  had  pneumonia 
and  were  wasting  beneath  the  stress  of  their  frightful  cough. 
There  were  others  again  who  maintained  a  continuous  howling 
and  were  comforted  only  when  their  burning,  throbbing  wound 
was  sprayed  with  cold  water.  The  great  hour  of  the  day,  the 
one  that  was  looked  forward  to  with  eager  expectancy,  was 
that  of  the  doctor's  morning  visit,  when  the  beds  were  opened 
and  aired  and  an  opportunity  was  afforded  their  occupants  to 
stretch  their  limbs,  cramped  by  remaining  long  in  one  position. 
And  it  was  the  hour  of  dread  and  terror  as  well,  for  not  a  day 
passed  that,  as  the  doctor  went  his  rounds,  he  was  not  pained 
to  see  on  some  poor  devil's  skin  the  bluish  spots  that  denoted 
the  presence  of  gangrene.  The  operation  would  be  appointed 
for  the  following  day,  when  a  few  more  inches  of  the  leg  or 
arm  would  be  sliced  away.  Often  the  gangrene  kept  mount- 
ing higher  and  higher,  and  amputation  had  to  be  repeated 
until  the  entire  limb  was  gone. 

Every  evening  on  her  return  Henriette  answered  Jean's 
questions  in  the  same  tone  of  compassion  : 

"  Ah,  the  poor  boys,  the  poor  boys  !  " 

And  her  particulars  never  varied  ;  they  were  the  story  of 
the  daily  recurring  torments  of  that  earthly  hell.  There  had 
been  an  amputation  at  the  shoulder.joint,  a  foot  had  been 


THE  DOWNFALL.  447 

taken  off,  a  humerus  resected  ;  but  would  gangrene  or  puru- 
lent contagion  be  clement  and  spare  the  patient  ?  Or  else 
they  had  been  burying  some  one  of  their  inmates,  most  fre- 
quently a  Frenchman,  now  and  then  a  German.  Scarcely  a  day 
passed  but  a  coarse  coffin,  hastily  knocked  together  from  four 
pine  boards,  left  the  hospital  at  the  twilight  hour,  accompanied 
by  a  single  one  of  the  attendants,  often  by  the  young  woman  her- 
self, that  a  fellow-creature  might  not  be  laid  away  in  his  grave 
like  a  dog.  In  the  little  cemetery  at  Remilly  two  trenches 
had  been  dug,  and  there  they  slumbered,  side  by  side,  French 
to  the  right,  Germans  to  the  left,  their  enmity  forgotten  in 
their  narrow  bed. 

Jean,  without  ever  having  seen  them,  had  come  to  feel  an 
interest  in  certain  among  the  patients.  He  would  ask  for 
tidings  of  them. 

"  And  '  Poor  boy,'  how  is  he  getting  on  to-day  ?" 

This  was  a  little  soldier,  a  private  in  the  5th  of  the  line,  not 
yet  twenty  years  old,  who  had  doubtless  enlisted  as  a  volun- 
teer. The  by-name  :  "  Poor  boy  "  had  been  given  him  and 
had  stuck  because  he  always  used  the  words  in  speaking  of 
himself,  and  when  one  day  he  was  asked  the  reason  he  replied 
that  that  was  the  name  by  which  his  mother  had  always  called 
him.  Poor  boy  he  was,  in  truth,  for  he  was  dying  of  pleurisy 
brought  on  by  a  wound  in  his  left  side. 

"Ah,  poor  fellow,"  replied  Henrietta,  who  had  conceived  a 
special  fondness  for  this  one  of  her  charges,  "  he  is  no  better  ; 
he  coughed  all  the  afternoon.  It  pained  my  heart  to  hear 
him." 

"  And  your  bear,  Gutman,  how  about  him  ?  "  pursued  Jean, 
with  a  faint  smile.  "  Is  the  doctor's  report  more  favorable  ? " 

"  Yes,  he  thinks  he  may  be  able  to  save  his  life.  But  the 
poor  man  suffers  dreadfully." 

Although  they  both  felt  the  deepest  compassion  for  him, 
they  never  spoke  of  Gutman  but  a  smile  of  gentle  amusement 
came  to  their  lips.  Almost  immediately  upon  entering  on  her 
duties  at  the  hospital  the  young  woman  had  been  shocked  to 
recognize  in  that  Bavarian  soldier  the  features  :  big  blue 
eyes,  red  hair  and  beard  and  massive  nose,  of  the  man  who 
had  carried  her  away  in  his  arms  the  day  they  shot  her  hus- 
band at  Bazeilles.  He  recognized  her  as  well,  but  could  not 
speak  ;  a  musket  ball,  entering  at  the  back  of  the  neck,  had 
carried  away  half  his  tongue.  For  two  days  she  recoiled  with 
horror,  an  involuntary  shudder  passed  through  her  frame, 


44$  THE  DOWNFALL. 

each  time  she  had  to  approach  his  bed,  but  presently  her 
heart  began  to  melt  under  the  imploring,  very  gentle  looks 
with  which  he  followed  her  movements  in  the  room.  Was  he 
not  the  blood-splashed  monster,  with  eyes  ablaze  with  furious 
rage,  whose  memory  was  ever  present  to  her  mind  ?  It  cost 
her  an  effort  to  recognize  him  now  in  that  submissive,  uncom- 
plaining creature,  who  bore  his  terrible  suffering  with  such 
cheerful  resignation.  The  nature  of  his  affliction,  which  is 
not  of  frequent  occurrence,  enlisted  for  him  the  sympathies  of 
the  entire  hospital.  It  was  not  even  certain  that  his  name 
was  Gutman  ;  he  was  called  so  because  the  only  sound  he 
succeeded  in  articulating  was  a  word  of  two  syllables  that  re- 
sembled that  more  than  it  did  anything  else.  As  regarded  all 
other  particulars  concerning  him  everyone  was  in  the  dark  ; 
it  was  generally  believed,  however,  that  he  was  married  and 
had  children.  He  seemed  to  understand  a  few  words  of 
French,  for  he  would  answer  questions  that  were  put  to  him 
with  an  emphatic  motion  of  the  head  :  "  Married  ?  "  yes,  yes  ! 
"  Children  ?  "  yes,  yes  !  The  interest  and  excitement  he  dis- 
played one  day  that  he  saw  some  flour  induced  them  to 
believe  he  might  have  been  a  miller.  And  that  was  all. 
Where  was  the  mill,  whose  wheel  had  ceased  to  turn  ?  In 
what  distant  Bavarian  village  were  the  wife  and  children  now 
weeping  their  lost  husband  and  father?  Was  he  to  die, name- 
less, unknown,  in  that  foreign  country,  and  leave  his  dear  ones 
forever  ignorant  of  his  fate  ? 

"  To-day,"  Henriette  told  Jean  one  evening,  "  Gutman 
kissed  his  hand  to  me.  I  cannot  give*  him  a  drink  of  water, 
or  render  him  any  other  trifling  service,  but  he  manifests  his 
gratitude  by  the  most  extravagant  demonstrations.  Don't 
smile ;  it  is  too  terrible  to  be  buried  thus  alive  before  one's 
time  has  come." 

Toward  the  end  of  October  Jean's  condition  began  to  im- 
prove. The  doctor  thought  he  might  venture  to  remove  the 
drain,  although  he  still  looked  apprehensive  whenever  he 
examined  the  wound,  which  nevertheless  appeared  to  be  heal- 
ing as  rapidly  as  could  be  expected.  The  convalescent  was 
able  to  leave  his  bed,  and  spent  hours  at  a  time  pacing  his 
room  or  seated  at  the  window,  looking  out  on  the  cheerless, 
leaden  sky.  Then  time  began  to  hang  heavy  on  his  hands  ; 
he  spoke  of  finding  something  to  do,  asked  if  he  could  not  be 
of  service  on  the  farm.  Among  the  secret  cares  that  dis- 
turbed his  mind  was  Hhe  question  of  money,  for  fie  did  not 


THE  DOWNFALL.  449 

suppose  he  could  have  lain  there  for  six  long  weeks  and  not 
exhaust  his  little  fortune  of  two  hundred  francs,  and  if  Father 
Fouchard  continued  to  afford  him  hospitality  it  must  be  that 
Henriette  had  been  paying  his  board.  The  thought  dis- 
tressed him  greatly  ;  he  did  not  know  how  to  bring  about  an 
explanation  with  her,  and  it  was  with  a  feeling  of  deep  satis- 
faction that  he  accepted  the  position  of  assistant  at  the  farm, 
with  the  understanding  that  he  was  to  help  Silvine  with  the 
housework,  while  Prosper  was  to  be  continued  in  charge  of 
the  out-door  labors. 

Notwithstanding  the  hardness  of  the  times  Father  Fouchard 
could  well  afford  to  take  on  another  hand,  for  his  affairs  were 
prospering.  While  the  whole  country  was  in  the  throes  of  dis- 
solution and  bleeding  at  every  limb,  he  had  succeeded  in  so 
extending  his  butchering  business  that  he  was  now  slaughter- 
ing three  and  even  four  times  as  many  animals  as  he  had  ever 
done  before.  It  was  said  that  since  the  3ist  of  August  he 
had  been  carrying  on  a  most  lucrative  business  with  the 
Prussians.  He  who  on  the  3oth  had  stood  at  his  door  with 
his  cocked  gun  in  his  hand  and  refused  to  sell  a  crust  of  bread 
to  the  starving  soldiers  of  the  yth  corps  had  on  the  following 
day,  upon  the  first  appearance  of  the  enemy,  opened  up  as 
dealer  in  all  kinds  of  supplies,  had  disinterred  from  his  cellar 
immense  stocks  of  provisions,  had  brought  back  his  flocks  and 
herds  from  the  fastnesses  where  he  had  concealed  them;  and 
since  that  day  he  had  been  one  of  the  heaviest  purveyors  of 
meat  to  the  German  armies,  exhibiting  consummate  address  in 
bargaining  with  them  and  in  getting  his  money  promptly  for 
his  merchandise.  Other  dealers  at  times  suffered  great  incon- 
venience from  the  insolent  arbitrariness  of  the  victors,  whereas 
he  never  sold  them  a  sack  of  flour,  a  cask  of  wine  or  a 
quarter  of  beef  that  he  did  not  get  his  pay  for  it  as  soon  as 
delivered  in  good  hard  cash.  It  made  a  good  deal  of  talk  in 
Remilly  ;  people  said  it  was  scandalous  on  the  part  of  a  man 
whom  the  war  had  deprived  of  his  only  son,  whose  grave  he 
never  visited,  but  left  to  be  cared  for  by  Silvine  ;  but  never- 
theless they  all  looked  up  to  him  with  respect  as  a  man  who 
was  making  his  fortune  while  others,  even  the  shrewdest,  were 
having  a  hard  time  of  it  to  keep  body  and  soul  together.  And 
he,  with  a  sly  leer  out  of  his  small  red  eyes,  would  shrug  his 
shoulders  and  growl  in  his  bull-headed  way  : 

"  Who  talks  of  patriotism  !  I  am  more  a  patriot  than  any 
of  them.  Would  you  call  it  patriotism  to  fill  those  bloody 


45°  THE  DOWNFALL. 

Prussians'  mouths  gratis  ?  What  they  get  from  me  they  have 
to  pay  for.  Folks  will  see  how  it  is  some  of  these  days  !  " 

On  the  second  day  of  his  employment  Jean  remained  too 
long  on  foot,  and  the  doctor's  secret  fears  proved  not  to  be 
unfounded  ;  the  wound  opened,  the  leg  became  greatly  in- 
flamed  and  swollen,  he  was  compelled  to  take  to  his  bed  again. 
Dalichamp  suspected  that  the  mischief  was  due  to  a  spicule  of 
bone  that  the  two  consecutive  days  of  violent  exercise  had 
served  to  liberate.  He  explored  the  wound  and  was  so  fortun- 
ate as  to  find  the  fragment,  but  there  was  a  shock  attending 
the  operation,  succeeded  by  a  high  fever,  which  exhausted  all 
Jean's  strength.  He  had  never  in  his  life  been  reduced  to  a 
condition  of  such  debility  :  his  recovery  promised  to  be  a  work 
of  time,  and  faithful  Henriette  resumed  her  position  as  nurse 
and  companion  in  the  little  chamber,  where  winter  with  icy 
breath  now  began  to  make  its  presence  felt.  It  was  early 
November,  already  the  east  wind  had  brought  on  its  wings  a 
smart  flurry  of  snow,  and  between  those  four  bare  walls,  on  the 
uncarpeted  floor  where  even  the  tall,  gaunt  old  clothes-press 
seemed  to  shiver  with  discomfort,  the  cold  was  extreme.  As 
there  was  no  fireplace  in  the  room  they  determined  to  set  up 
a  stove,  of  which  the  purring,  droning  murmur  assisted  to 
brighten  their  solitude  a  bit. 

The  days  wore  on,  monotonously,  and  that  first  week  of  the 
relapse  was  to  Jean  and  Henriette  the  dreariest  and  saddest  in 
all  their  long,  unsought  intimacy.  Would  their  suffering  never 
end  ?  were  they  to  hope  for  no  surcease  of  misery,  the  danger 
always  springing  up  afresh  ?  At  every  moment  their  thoughts 
sped  away  to  Maurice,  from  whom  they  had  received  no  fur- 
ther word.  They  were  told  that  others  were  getting  letters, 
brief  notes  written  on  tissue  paper  and  brought  in  by  carrier- 
pigeons.  Doubtless  the  bullet  of  some  hated  German  had 
slain  the  messenger  that,  winging  its  way  through  the  free  air 
of  heaven,  was  bringing  them  their  missive  of  joy  and  love. 
Everything  seemed  to  retire  into  dim  obscurity,  to  die  and  be 
swallowed  up  in  the  depths  of  the  premature  winter.  Intelli- 
gence of  the  war  only  reached  them  a  long  time  after  the  oc- 
currence of  events,  the  few  newspapers  that  Doctor  Dalichamp 
still  continued  to  supply  them  with  were  often  a  week  old  by 
the  time  they  reached  their  hands.  And  their  dejection  was 
largely  owing  to  their  want  of  information,  to  what  they  did 
not  know  and  yet  instinctively  felt  to  be  the  truth,  to  the  pro- 
longed death-wail  that,  spite  of  all,  came  to  their  ears  across 


THE  DOWNFALL.  45 1 

the  frozen  fields  in  the  deep  silence  that  lay  upon  the 
country. 

One  morning  the  doctor  came  to  them  in  a  condition  of 
deepest  discouragement.  With  a  trembling  hand  he  drew 
from  his  pocket  a  Belgian  newspaper  and  threw  it  on  the  bed, 
exclaiming  : 

"  Alas,  my  friends,  poor  France  is  murdered  ;  Bazaine  has 
played  the  traitor  !  " 

Jean,  who  had  been  dozing,  his  back  supported  by  a  couple 
of  pillows,  suddenly  became  wide-awake. 

"  What,  a  traitor  ?  " 

"Yes,  he  has  surrendered  Metz  and  the  army.  It  is  the  ex- 
perience of  Sedan  over  again,  only  this  time  they  drain  us  of 
our  last  drop  of  life-blood."  Then  taking  up  the  paper  and 
reading  from  it  :  "  One  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  prisoners, 
one  hundred  and  fifty-three  eagles  and  standards,  one  hundred 
and  forty-one  field  guns,  seventy-six  machine  guns,  eight 
hundred  casemate  and  barbette  guns,  three  hundred  thousand 
muskets,  two  thousand  military  train  wagons,  material  for 
eighty-five  batteries " 

And  he  went  on  giving  further  particulars  :  how  Marshal 
Bazaine  had  been  blockaded  in  Metz  with  the  army,  bound 
hand  and  foot,  making  no  effort  to  break  the  wall  of 
adamant  that  surrounded  him  ;  the  doubtful  relations  that  ex- 
isted between  him  and  Prince  Frederick  Charles,  his  indecision 
and  fluctuating  political  combinations,  his  ambition  to  play  a 
great  role  in  history,  but  a  role  that  he  seemed  not  to  have 
fixed  upon  himself  ;  then  all  the  dirty  business  of  parleys  and 
conferences,  and  the  communications  by  means  of  lying,  un- 
savory emissaries  with  Bismarck,  King  William  and  the  Em- 
press-regent, who  in  the  end  put  her  foot  down  and  refused 
to  negotiate  with  the  enemy  on  the  basis  of  a  cession  of  terri- 
tory ;  and,  finally,  the  inevitable  catastrophe,  the  completion 
of  the  web  that  destiny  had  been  weaving,  famine  in  Metz,  a 
compulsory  capitulation,  officers  and  men,  hope  and  courage 
gone,  reduced  to  accept  the  bitter  terms  of  the  victor.  France 
no  longer  had  an  army. 

"  In  God's  name  !  "  Jean  ejaculated  in  a  deep,  low  voice. 
He  had  not  fully  understood  it  all,  but  until  then  Bazaine  had 
always  been  for  him  the  great  captain,  the  one  man  to  whom 
they  were  to  look  for  salvation.  "  What  is  left  us  to  do  now  ? 
What  will  become  of  them  at  Paris  ?  " 

The  doctor  was  just  coming  to  the  news  from  Paris,  which 


452  THE  DOWNFALL. 

was  of  a  disastrous  character.  He  called  their  attention  to 
the  fact  that  the  paper  from  which  he  was  reading  was  dated 
November  5.  The  surrender  of  Metz  had  been  consum- 
mated on  the  27th  of  October,  and  the  tidings  were  not  known 
in  Paris  until  the  3oth.  Coming,  as  it  did,  upon  the  heels  of 
the  reverses  recently  sustained  at  Chevilly,  Bagneux  and  la 
Malmaison,  after  the  conflict  at  Bourget  and  the  loss  of  that 
position,  the  intelligence  had  burst  like  a  thunderbolt  over  the 
desperate  populace,  angered  and  disgusted  by  the  feebleness 
and  impotency  of  the  government  of  National  Defense.  And 
thus  it  was  that  on  the  following  day,  the  3ist,  the  city  was 
threatened  with  a  general  insurrection,  an  immense  throng  of 
angry  men,  a  mob  ripe  for  mischief,  collecting  on  the  Place  de 
1'Hotel  de  Ville,  whence  they  swarmed  into  the  halls  and  pub- 
lic offices,  making  prisoners  the  members  of  the  Government, 
whom  the  National  Guard  rescued  later  in  the  day  only  because 
they  feared  the  triumph  of  those  incendiaries  who  were  clamor- 
ing for  the  commune.  And  the  Belgian  journal  wound  up  with 
a  few  stinging  comments  on  the  great  City  of  Paris,  thus  torn 
by  civil  war  when  the  enemy  was  at  its  gates.  Was  it  not  the 
presage  of  approaching  decomposition,  the  puddle  of  blood 
and  mire  that  was  to  engulf  a  world  ? 

"  That's  true  enough  !  "  said  Jean,  whose  face  was  very 
white.  "  They've  no  business  to  be  squabbling  when  the 
Prussians  are  at  hand  !  " 

But  Henriette,  who  had  said  nothing  as  yet,  always  making 
it  her  rule  to  hold  her  tongue  when  politics  were  under  dis- 
cussion, could  not  restrain  a  cry  that  rose  from  her  heart. 
Her  thoughts  were  ever  with  her  brother. 

"  Mon  Dieti,  I  hope  that  Maurice,  with  all  the  foolish  ideas 
he  has  in  his  head,  won't  let  himself  get  mixed  up  in  this 
business ! " 

They  were  all  silent  in  their  distress  ;  and  it  was  the  doctor, 
who  was  ardently  patriotic,  who  resumed  the  conversation. 

"  Never  mind  ;  if  there  are  no  more  soldiers,  others  will 
grow.  Metz  has  surrendered,  Paris  may  surrender,  even  ;  but 
it  don't  follow  from  that  that  France  is  wiped  out.  Yes,  the 
strong-box  is  all  right,  as  our  peasants  say,  and  we  will  live  on 
in  spite  of  all." 

It  was  clear,  however,  that  he  was  hoping  against  hope. 
He  spoke  of  the  army  that  was  collecting  on  the  Loire,  whose 
initial  performances,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Arthenay,  had 
not  been  of  the  most  promising  ;  it  would  become  seasoned 


THE  DOWNFALL.  453 

and  would  march  to  the  relief  of  Paris.  His  enthusiasm  was 
aroused  to  boiling  pitch  by  the  proclamations  of  Gambetta, 
who  had  left  Paris  by  balloon  on  the  yth  of  October  and  two 
days  later  established  his  headquarters  at  Tours,  calling  on 
every  citizen  to  fly  to  arms,  and  instinct  with  a  spirit  at  once 
so  virile  and  so  sagacious  that  the  entire  country  gave  its  ad- 
hesion to  the  dictatorial  powers  assumed  for  the  public  safety. 
And  was  there  not  talk  of  forming  another  army  in  the  North, 
and  yet  another  in  the  East,  of  causing  soldiers  to  spring  from 
the  ground  by  sheer  force  of  faith  ?  It  was  to  be  the  awaken- 
ing of  the  provinces,  the  creation  of  all  that  was  wanting  by 
exercise  of  indomitable  will,  the  determination  to  continue  the 
struggle  until  the  last  sou  was  spent,  the  last  drop  of  blood 
shed. 

"  Bah  !  "  said  the  doctor  in  conclusion  as  he  arose  to  go, 
"  I  have  many  a  time  given  up  a  patient,  and  a  week  later 
found  him  ?,s  lively  as  a  cricket." 

Jean  smiled.  '*  Doctor,  hurry  up  and  make  a  well  man  of 
me,  so  I  can  go  back  to  my  post  down  yonder." 

But  those  evil  tidings  left  Henriette  and  him  in  a  terribly 
disheartened  state.  There  came  another  cold  wave,  with 
snow,  and  when  the  next  day  Henriette  came  in  shivering  from 
the  hospital  she  told  her  friend  that  Gutman  was  dead.  The 
intense  cold  had  proved  fatal  to  many  among  the  wounded  ; 
it  was  emptying  the  rows  of  beds.  The  miserable  man  whom 
the  loss  of  his  tongue  had  condemned  to  silence  had  lain  two 
days  in  the  throes  of  death.  During  his  last  hour  she  had 
remained  seated  at  his  bedside,  unable  to  resist  the  supplica- 
tion of  his  pleading  gaze.  He  seemed  to  be  speaking  to  her 
with  his  tearful  eyes,  trying  to  tell,  it  may  be,  his  real  name 
and  the  name  of  the  village,  so  far  away,  where  a  wife  and 
little  ones  were  watching  for  his  return.  And  he  had  gone 
from  them  a  stranger,  known  of  none,  sending  her  a  last  kiss 
with  his  uncertain,  stiffening  fingers,  as  if  to  thank  her  once 
again  for  all  her  gentle  care.  She  was  the  only  one  who  ac- 
companied the  remains  to  the  cemetery,  where  the  frozen 
earth,  the  unfriendly  soil  of  the  stranger's  country,  rattled 
with  a  dull,  hollow  sound  on  the  pine  coffin,  mingled  with 
flakes  of  snow. 

The  next  day,  again,  Henriette  said  upon  her  return  at 
evening  : 

"  *  Poor  boy  '  is  dead."  She  could  not  keep  back  her  tears 
at  mention  of  his  name.  "  If  you  could  but  have  seen  and 


454  THE  DOWNFALL. 

heard  him  in  his  pitiful  delirium  !  He  kept  calling  me  : 
'  Mamma !  mamma  !  '  and  stretched  his  poor  thin  arms  out  to 
me  so  entreatingly  that  I  had  to  take  him  on  my  lap.  His 
suffering  had  so  wasted  him  that  he  was  no  heavier  than  a 
boy  of  ten,  poor  fellow.  And  I  held  and  soothed  him,  so  that 
he  might  die  in  peace  ;  yes,  I  held  him  in  my  arms,  I  whom 
he  called  his  mother  and  who  was  but  a  few  years  older  than 
himself.  He  wept,  and  I  myself  could  not  restrain  my  tears  ; 

you  can  see  I  am  weeping  still "  Her  utterance  was  choked 

with  sobs  ;  she  had  to  pause.  "  Before  his  death  he  murmured 
several  times  the  name  which  he  had  given  himself  :  '  Poor  boy, 
poor  boy  !'  Ah,  how  just  the  designation  !  poor  boys  they 
are  indeed,  some  of  them  so  young  and  all  so  brave,  whom 
your  hateful  war  maims  and  mangles  and  causes  to  suffer  so 
before  they  are  laid  away  at  last  in  their  narrow  bed  !  " 

Never  a  day  passed  now  but  Henriette  came  in  at  night  in 
this  anguished  state,  caused  by  some  new  death,  and  the  suf- 
fering of  others  had  the  effect  of  bringing  them  together  even 
more  closely  still  during  the  sorrowful  hours  that  they  spent, 
secluded  from  all  the  world,  in  the  silent,  tranquil  chamber. 
And  yet  those  hours  were  full  of  sweetness,  too,  for  affection, 
a  feeling  which  they  believed  to  be  a  brother's  and  sister's  love, 
had  sprung  up  in  those  two  hearts  which  little  by  little  had 
come  to  know  each  other's  worth.  To  him,  with  his  observant, 
thoughtful  nature,  their  long  intimacy  had  proved  an  elevating 
influence,  while  she,  noting  his  unfailing  kindness  of  heart 
and  evenness  of  temper,  had  ceased  to  remember  that  he  was 
one  of  the  lowly  of  the  earth  and  had  been  a  tiller  of  the  soil 
before  he  became  a  soldier.  Their  understanding  was  perfect ; 
they  made  a  very  good  couple,  as  Silvine  said  with  her  grave 
smile.  There  was  never  the  least  embarrassment  between 
them  ;  when  she  dressed  his  leg  the  calm  serenity  that  dwelt 
in  the  eyes  of  both  was  undisturbed.  Always  attired  in  black, 
in  her  widow's  garments,  it  seemed  almost  as  if  she  had  ceased 
to  be  a  woman. 

But  during  those  long  afternoons  when  Jean  was  left  to 
himself  he  could  not  help  giving  way  to  speculation.  The 
sentiment  he  experienced  for  his  friend  was  one  of  boundless 
gratitude,  a  sort  of  religious  reverence,  which  would  have 
made  him  repel  the  idea  of  love  as  if  it  were  a  sort  of  sacrilege. 
And  yet  he  told  himself  that  had  he  had  a  wife  like  her,  so 
gentle,  so  loving,  so  helpful,  his  life  would  have  been  an  earthly 
paradise.  His  great  misfortune,  his  unhappy  marriage,  the 


THE  DOWNFALL.  45 S 

evil  years  be  had  spent  at  Rognes,  his  wife's  tragic  end,  all 
the  sad  past,  arose  before  him  with  a  softened  feeling  of 
regret,  with  an  undefined  hope  for  the  future,  but  without  dis- 
tinct purpose  to  try  another  effort  to  master  happiness.  He 
closed  his  eyes  and  dropped  off  into  a  doze,  and  then  he  had 
a  confused  vision  of  being  at  Remilly,  married  again  and  owner 
of  a  bit  of  land,  sufficient  to  support  a  family  of  honest  folks 
whose  wants  were  not  extravagant.  But  it  was  all  a  dream, 
lighter  than  thistle-down  ;  he  knew  it  could  never,  never  be. 
He  believed  his  heart  to  be  capable  of  no  emotion  stronger 
than  friendship,  he  loved  Henriette  as  he  did  solely  because 
he  was  Maurice's  brother.  And  then  that  vague  dream  of 
marriage  had  come  to  be  in  some  measure  a  comfort  to  him, 
one  of  those  fancies  of  the  imagination  that  we  know  is  never 
to  be  realized  and  with  which  we  fondle  ourselves  in  our  hours 
of  melancholy. 

For  her  part,  such  thoughts  had  never  for  a  moment  pre- 
sented themselves  to  Henriette's  mind.  Since  the  day  of  the 
horrible  tragedy  at  Bazeilles  her  bruised  heart  had  lain  numb  and 
lifeless  in  her  bosom,  and  if  consolation  in  the  shape  of  a 
new  affection  had  found  its  way  thither,  it  could  not  be  other- 
wise than  without  her  knowledge  ;  the  latent  movement  of  the 
seed  deep-buried  in  the  earth,  which  bursts  its  sheath  and  ger- 
minates, unseen  of  human  eye.  She  failed  even  to  perceive 
the  pleasure  it  afforded  her  to  remain  for  hours  at  a  time  by 
Jean's  bedside,  reading  to  him  those  newspapers  that  never 
brought  them  tidings  save  of  evil.  Never  had  her  pulses  beat 
more  rapidly  at  the  touch  of  his  hand,  never  had  she  dwelt  in 
dreamy  rapture  on  the  vision  of  the  future  with  a  longing  to  be 
loved  once  more.  And  yet  it  was  in  that  chamber  alone  that 
she  found  comfort  and  oblivion.  When  she  was  there,  busy- 
ing herself  with  noiseless  diligence  for  her  patient's  well-being, 
she  was  at  peace  ;  it  seemed  to  her  that  soon  her  brother  would 
return  and  all  would  be  well,  they  would  all  lead  a  life  of  hap- 
piness together  and  never  more  be  parted.  And  it  appeared 
to  her  so  natural  that  things  should  end  thus  that  she  talked 
of  their  relations  without  the  slightest  feeling  of  embarrass- 
ment, without  once  thinking  to  question  her  heart  more  closely, 
unaware  that  she  had  already  made  the  chaste  surrender  of  it. 

But  as  she  was  on  the  point  of  leaving  for  the  hospital  one  af- 
ternoon she  looked  into  the  kitchen  as  she  passed  and  saw  there 
a  Prussian  captain  and  two  other  officers,  and  the  icy  terror 
that  filled  her  at  the  sight,  then,  for  the  first  time,  opened  her 


45 6  THE  DOWNFALL. 

eyes  to  the  deep  affection  she  had  conceived  for  Jean.  It  was 
plain  that  the  men  had  heard  of  the  wounded  man's  presence 
at  the  farm  and  were  come  to  claim  him  ;  he  was  to  be  torn 
from  them  and  led  away  captive  to  the  dungeon  of  some  dark 
fortress  deep  in  Germany.  She  listened  tremblingly,  her  heart 
beating  tumultuously. 

The  captain,  a  big,  stout  man,  who  spoke  French  with  scarce 
a  trace  of  foreign  accent,  was  rating  old  Fouchard  soundly. 

"  Things  can't  go  on  in  this  way  ;  you  are  not  dealing 
squarely  by  us.  I  came  myself  to  give  you  warning,  once  for 
all,  that  if  the  thing  happens  again  I  shall  take  other  steps  to 
remedy  it ;  and  I  promise  you  the  consequences  will  not  be 
agreeable." 

Though  entirely  master  of  all  his  faculties  the  old  scamp  as- 
sumed an  air  of  consternation,  pretending  not  to  understand, 
his  mouth  agape,  his  arms  describing  frantic  circles  on  the 
air.  . 

"  How  is  that,  sir,  how  is  that  ?  " 

"  Oh,  come,  there's  no  use  attempting  to  pull  the  wool  over 
my  eyes  ;  you  know  perfectly  well  that  the  three  beeves  you 
sold  me  on  Sunday  last  were  rotten — yes,  diseased,  and  rotten 
through  and  through  ;  they  must  have  been  where  there  was 
infection,  for  they  poisoned  my  men  ;  there  are  two  of  them 
in  such  a  bad  way  that  they  may  be  dead  by  this  time  for  all  I 
know." 

Fouchard's  manner  was  expressive  of  virtuous  indignation. 
"  What,  my  cattle  diseased  !  why,  there's  no  better  meat  in  all 
the  country  ;  a  sick  woman  might  feed  on  it  to  build  her  up  !  " 
And  he  whined  and  sniveled,  thumping  himself  on  the  chest 
and  calling  God  to  witness  he  was  an  honest  man  ;  he  would 
cut  off  his  right  hand  rather  than  sell  bad  meat.  For  more 
than  thirty  years  he  had  been  known  throughout  the  neighbor- 
hood, and  not  a  living  soul  could  say  he  had  ever  been  wronged 
in  weight  or  quality.  "  They  were  as  sound  as  a  dollar,  sir, 
and  if  your  men  had  the  belly-ache  it  was  because  they  ate 
too  much — unless  some  villain  hocussed  the  pot " 

And  so  he  ran  on,  with  such  a  flux  of  words  and  absurd 
theories  that  finally  the  captain,  his  patience  exhausted,  cut 
him  short. 

"  Enough  !  You  have  had  your  warning  ;  see  you  profit  by 
it !  And  there  is  another  matter  :  we  have  our  suspicions  that 
all  you  people  of  this  village  give  aid  and  comfort  to  the 
francs-tireurs  of  the  wood  of  Dieulet,  who  killed  another  of 


THE  DOWNFALL.  457 

our  sentries  day  before  yesterday.  Mind  what  I  say  ;  be 
careful !  " 

When  the  Prussians  were  gone  Father  Fouchard  shrugged 
his  shoulders  with  a  contemptuous  sneer.  Why,  yes,  of  course 
he  sold  them  carcasses  that  had  never  been  near  the  slaughter- 
house ;  that  was  all  they  would  ever  get  to  eat  from  him.  If 
a  peasant  had  a  cow  die  on  his  hands  of  the  rinderpest,  or  if 
he  found  a  dead  ox  lying  in  the  ditch,  was  not  the  carrion 
good  enough  for  those  dirty  Prussians  ?  To  say  nothing  of 
the  pleasure  there  was  in  getting  a  big  price  out  of  them  for 
tainted  meat  at  which  a  dog  would  turn  up  his  nose.  He 
turned  and  winked  slyly  at  Henriette,  who  was  glad  to  have 
her  fears  dispelled,  muttering  triumphantly  : 

"  Say,  little  girl,  what  do  you  think  now  of  the  wicked 
people  who  go  about  circulating  the  story  that  I  am  not  a 
patriot  ?  Why  don't  they  do  as  I  do,  eh  ?  sell  the  black- 
guards  carrion  and  put  their  money  in  their  pocket.  Not  a 
patriot !  why,  good  Heavens  !  I  shall  have  killed  more  of  them 
with  my  diseased  cattle  than  many  a  soldier  with  his  chasse- 
pot  !  " 

When  the  story  reached  Jean's  ears,  however,  he  was  greatly 
disturbed.  If  the  German  authorities  suspected  that  the 
people  of  Remilly  were  harboring  the  francs-tireurs  from  Dieu- 
let  wood  they  might  at  any  time  come  and  beat  up  his  quarters 
and  unearth  him  from  his  retreat.  The  idea  that  he  should 
be  the  means  of  compromising  his  hosts  or  bringing  trouble  to 
Henriette  was  unendurable  to  him.  Yielding  to  the  young 
woman's  entreaties,  however,  he  consented  to  delay  his  de- 
parture yet  for  a  few  days,  for  his  wound  was  very  slow  in 
healing  and  he  was  not  strong  enough  to  go  away  and  join 
one  of  the  regiments  in  the  field,  either  in  the  North  or  on  the 
Loire. 

From  that  time  forward,  up  to  the  middle  of  December,  the 
stress  of  their  anxiety  and  mental  suffering  exceeded  even 
what  had  gone  before.  The  cold  was  grown  to  be  so  intense 
that  the  stove  no  longer  sufficed  to  heat  the  great,  barn-like 
room.  When,  they  looked  from  their  window  on  the  crust  of 
snow  that  covered  the  frozen  earth  they  thought  of  Maurice, 
entombed  down  yonder  in  distant  Paris,  that  was  now  become 
a  city  of  death  and  desolation,  from  which  they  scarcely  ever 
received  reliable  intelligence.  Ever  the  same  questions  were 
on  their  lips  :  what  was  he  doing,  why  did  he  not  let  them 
hear  from  him  ?  They  dared  not  voice  their  dreadful  doubts 


45 8  THE  DOWNFALL. 

and  fears  ;  perhaps  he  was  ill,  or  wounded  ;  perhaps  even  he 
was  dead.  The  scanty  and  vague  tidings  that  continued  to 
reach  them  occasionally  through  the  newspapers  were  not 
calculated  to  reassure  them.  After  numerous  lying  reports  of 
successful  sorties,  circulated  one  day  only  to  be  contradicted 
the  next,  there  was  a  rumor  of  a  great  victory  gained  by 
General  Ducrot  at  Champigny  on  the  2d  of  December  ;  but 
they  speedily  learned  that  on  the  following  day  the  general, 
abandoning  the  positions  he  had  won,  had  been  forced  to  re- 
cross  the  Marne  and  send  his  troops  into  cantonments  in  the 
wood  of  Vincennes.  With  each  new  day  the  Parisians  saw 
themselves  subjected  to  fresh  suffering  and  privation  :  famine 
was  beginning  to  make  itself  felt ;  the  authorities,  having  first 
requisitioned  horned  cattle,  were  now  doing  the  same  with 
potatoes,  gas  was  no  longer  furnished  to  private  houses,  and 
soon  the  fiery  flight  of  the  projectiles  could  be  traced  as  they 
tore  through  the  darkness  of  the  unlighted  streets.  And  so  it 
was  that  neither  of  them  could  draw  a  breath  or  eat  a  mouth- 
ful without  being  haunted  by  the  image  of  Maurice  and  those 
two  million  living  beings,  imprisoned  in  their  gigantic 
sepulcher. 

From  every  quarter,  moreover,  from  the  northern  as  well  as 
from  the  central  districts,  most  discouraging  advices  continued 
to  arrive.  In  the  north  the  22d  army  corps,  composed  of 
gardes  mobiles,  depot  companies  from  various  regiments  and 
such  officers  and  men  as  had  not  been  involved  in  the  disasters 
of  Sedan  and  Metz,  had  been  forced  to  abandon  Amiens  and 
retreat  on  Arras,  and  on  the  5th  of  December  Rouen  had  also 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  after  a  mere  pretense  of 
resistance  on  the  part  of  its  demoralized,  scanty  garrison.  In 
the  center  the  victory  of  Coulmiers,  achieved  on  the  3d  of 
November  by  the  army  of  the  Loire,  had  resuscitated  for  a  mo- 
ment the  hopes  of  the  country  :  Orleans  was  to  be  reoccupied, 
the  Bavarians  were  to  be  put  to  flight,  the  movement  by  way 
of  £tampes  was  to  culminate  in  the  relief  of  Paris ;  but  on 
December  5  Prince  Frederick  Charles  had  retaken  Orleans 
and  cut  in  two  the  army  of  the  Loire,  of  which  three  corps  fell 
back  on  Bourges  and  Vierzon,  while  the  remaining  two,  com- 
manded by  General  Chanzy,  retired  to  Mans,  fighting  and 
falling  back  alternately  for  a  whole  week,  most  gallantly. 
The  Prussians  were  everywhere,  at  Dijon  and  at  Dieppe,  at 
Vierzon  as  well  as  at  Mans.  And  almost  every  morning  came 
the  intelligence  of  some  fortified  place  that  had  capitulated, 


THE  DOWNFALL.  459 

unable  longer  to  hold  out  under  the  bombardment.  Stras- 
bourg had  succumbed  as  early  as  the  28th  of  September,  after 
standing  forty-six  days  of  siege  and  thirty-seven  of  shelling, 
her  walls  razed  and  her  buildings  riddled  by  more  than  two 
hundred  thousand  projectiles.  The  citadel  of  Laon  had  been 
blown  into  the  air  ;  Toul  had  surrendered  ;  and  following 
them,  a  melancholy  catalogue,  came  Soissons  with  its  hundred 
and  twenty-eight  pieces  of  artillery,  Verdun,  which  numbered 
a  hundred  and  thirty-six,  Neufbrisach  with  a  hundred,  La 
Fere  with  seventy,  Montmedy,  sixty-five.  Thionville  was  in 
flames,  Phalsbourg  had  only  opened  her  gates  after  a  desper- 
ate resistance  that  lasted  eighty  days.  It  seemed  as  if  all 
France  were  doomed  to  burn  and  be  reduced  to  ruins  by  the 
never-ceasing  cannonade. 

One  morning  that  Jean  manifested  a  fixed  determination  to 
be  gone,  Henriette  seized  both  his  hands  and  held  them  tight- 
clasped  in  hers. 

"  Ah,  no  !  I  beg  you,  do  not  go  and  leave  me  here  alone. 
You  are  not  strong  enough  ;  wait  a  few  days  yet,  only  a  few 
days.  I  will  let  you  go,  I  promise  you  I  will,  whenever  the 
doctor  says  you  are  well  enough  to  go  and  fight." 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  cold  was  intense  on  that  December  evening.  Silvine 
and  Prosper,  together  with  little  Chariot,  were  alone  in 
the  great  kitchen  of  the  farmhouse,  she  busy  with  her  sewing, 
he  whittling  away  at  a  whip  that  he  proposed  should  be  more 
than  usually  ornate.  It  was  seven  o'clock  ;  they  had  dined  at 
six,  not  waiting  for  Father  Fouchard,  who  they  supposed  had 
been  detained  at  Raucourt,  where  there  was  a  scarcity  of  meat, 
and  Henriette,  whose  turn  it  was  to  watch  that  night  at  the 
hospital,  had  just  left  the  house,  after  cautioning  Silvine  to 
be  sure  to  replenish  Jean's  stove  with  coal  before  she  went  to 
bed. 

Outside  a  sky  of  inky  blackness  overhung  the  white  ex- 
panse of  snow.  No  sound  came  from  the  village,  buried 
among  the  drifts  ;-all  that  was  to  be  heard  in  the  kitchen  was 
the  scraping  of  Prosper's  knife  as  he  fashioned  elaborate 
rosettes  and  lozenges  on  the  dogwood  stock.  Now  and  then 
he  stopped  and  cast  a  glance  at  Chariot,  whose  flaxerrhead  was 
nodding  drowsily.  When  the  child  feJl  asleep  at  last  the 


460  THE  DOWNFALL. 

silence  seemed  more  profound  than  ever.  The  mother  noise- 
lessly changed  the  position  of  the  candle  that  the  light  might 
not  strike  the  eyes  of  her  little  one ;  then  sitting  down  to  her 
sewing  again,  she  sank  into  a  deep  reverie.  And  Prosper,  after 
a  further  period  of  hesitation,  finally  mustered  up  courage  to 
disburden  himself  of  what  he  wished  to  say. 

"  Listen,  Silvine  ;  I  have  something  to  tell  you.  I  have 
been  watching  for  an  opportunity  to  speak  to  you  in  pri- 
vate  " 

Alarmed  by  his  preface,  she  raised  her  eyes  and  looked  him 
in  the  face. 

"  This  is  what  it  is.  You'll  forgive  me  for  frightening  you, 
but  it  is  best  you  should  be  forewarned.  In  Remilly  this 
morning,  at  the  corner  by  the  church,  I  saw  Goliah  ;  I  saw  him 
as  plain  as  I  see  you  sitting  there.  Oh,  no  !  there  can  be  no 
mistake  ;  I  was  not  dreaming  !  " 

Her  face  suddenly  became  white  as  death ;  all  she  was 
capable  of  uttering  was  a  stifled  moan  : 

"  My  God  !  my  God  ! " 

Prosper  went  on,  in  words  calculated  to  give  her  least  alarm, 
and  related  what  he  had  learned  during  the  day  by  question- 
ing one  person  and  another.  No  one  doubted  now  that  Goliah 
was  a  spy,  that  he  had  formerly  come  and  settled  in  the  coun- 
try with  the  purpose  of  acquainting  himself  with  its  roads,  its 
resources,  the  most  insignificant  details  pertaining  to  the  life 
of  its  inhabitants.  Men  reminded  one  another  of  the  time 
when  he  had  worked  for  Father  Fouchard  on  his  farm  and  of 
his  sudden  disappearance  ;  they  spoke  of  the  places  he  had 
had  subsequently  to  that  over  toward  Beaumont  and  Rau- 
court.  And  now  he  was  back  again,  holding  a  position  of 
some  sort  at  the  military  post  of  Sedan,  its  duties  apparently 
not  very  well  defined,  going  about  from  one  village  to  another, 
denouncing  this  man,  fining  that,  keeping  an  eye  to  the  filling 
of  the  requisitions  that  made  the  peasants'  lives  a  burden  to 
them.  That  very  morning  he  had  frightened  the  people  of 
Remilly  almost  out  of  their  wits  in  relation  to  a  delivery  of 
flour,  alleging  it  was  short  in  weight  and  had  not  been  fur- 
nished within  the  specified  time. 

"  You  are  forewarned,"  said  Prosper  in  conclusion,  "  and  now 
you'll  know  what  to  do  when  he  shows  his  face  here " 

She  interrupted  him  with  a  terrified  cry. 

"  Do  you  think  he  will  come  here  ?  "• 

"  Dame !   it  appears  to  me  extremely  probable  he  will.     It 


THE  DOWNFALL.  461 

would  show  great  lack  of  curiosity  if  he  didn't,  since  he  knows 
he  has  a  young  one  here  that  he  has  never  seen.  .  And  then 
there's  you,  besides,  and  you're  not  so  very  homely  but  he 
might  like  to  have  another  look  at  you." 

She  gave  him  an  entreating  glance  that  silenced  his  rude 
attempt  at  gallantry.  Chariot,  awakened  by  the  sound  of  their 
voices,  had  raised  his  head.  With  the  blinking  eyes  of  one 
suddenly  aroused  from  slumber  he  looked  about  the  room,  and 
recalled  the  words  that  some  idle  fellow  of  the  village  had 
taught  him  ;  and  with  the  solemn  gravity  of  a  little  man  or 
three  he  announced  : 

"  Dey're  loafers,  de  Prussians  !" 

His  mother  went  and  caught  him  frantically  in  her  arms  and 
seated  him  on  her  lap.  Ah  !  the  poor  little  waif,  at  once  her 
delight  and  her  despair,  whom  she  loved  with  all  her  soul  and 
who  brought  the  tears  to  her  eyes  every  time  she  looked  on 
him,  flesh  of  her  flesh,  whom  it  wrung  her  heart  to  hear  the 
urchins  with  whom  he  consorted  in  the  street  tauntingly  call 
"  the  little  Prussian  !  "  She  kissed  him,  as  if  she  would  have 
forced  the  words  back  into  his  mouth. 

"  Who  taught  my  darling  such  naughty  words  ?  It's  not 
nice  ;  you  must  not  say  them  again,  my  loved  one." 

Whereon  Chariot,  with  the  persistency  of  childhood,  laugh- 
ing and  squirming,  made  haste  to  reiterate  : 

"  Dey're  dirty  loafers,  de  Prussians  !  " 

And  when  his  mother  burst  into  tears  he  clung  about  her 
neck  and  also  began  to  howl  dismally.  Mon  Dieu,  what  new 
evil  was  in  store  for  her !  Was  it  not  enough  that  she  had 
lost  in  Honore  the  one  single  hope  of  her  life,  the  assured 
promise  of  oblivion  and  future  happiness  ?  and  was  that  man 
to  appear  upon  the  scene  again  to  make  her  misery  complete  ? 

"  Come,"  she  murmured,  "  come  along,  darling,  and  go  to 
bed.  Mamma  will  kiss  her  little  boy  all  the  same,  for  he  does 
not  know  the  sorrow  he  causes  her." 

And  she  went  from  the  room,  leaving  Prosper  alone.  The 
good  fellow,  not  to  add  to  her  embarrassment,  had  averted 
his  eyes  from  her  face  and  was  apparently  devoting  his  entire 
attention  to  his  carving. 

Before  putting  Chariot  to  bed  it  was  Silvine's  nightly  custom 
to  take  him  in  to  say  good- night  to  Jean,  with  whom  the 
youngster  was  on  terms  of  great  friendship.  As  she  entered 
the  room  that  evening,  holding  her  candle  before  her,  she 
beheld  the  convalescent  seated  upright  in  bed,  his  open  eyes 


462  TtfE  DOWNFALL 

peering  into  the  obscurity.  What,  was  he  not  asleep  ?  Faith, 
no  ;  he  had  been  ruminating  on  all  sorts  of  subjects  in  the 
silence  of  the  winter  night  ;  and  while  she  was  cramming  the 
stove  with  coal  he  frolicked  for  a  moment  with  Chariot,  who 
rolled  and  tumbled  on  the  bed  like  a  young  kitten.  He  knew 
Silvine's  story,  and  had  a  very  kindly  feeling  for  the  meek, 
courageous  girl  whom  misfortune  had  tried  so  sorely,  mourn- 
ing the  only  man  she  had  ever  loved,  her  sole  comfort  that 
child  of  shame  whose  existence  was  a  daily  reproach  to  her. 
When  she  had  replaced  the  lid  on  the  stove,  therefore,  and 
came  to  the  bedside  to  take  the  boy  from  his  arms,  he  perceived 
by  her  red  eyes  that  she  had  been  weeping.  What,  had  she 
been  having  more  trouble  ?  But  she  would  not  answer  his 
question  :  some  other  day  she  would  tell  him  what  it  was  if 
it  seemed  worth  the  while.  Man  Dieu  /  was  not  her  life  one 
of  continual  suffering  now  ? 

Silvine  was  at  last  lugging  Chariot  away  in  her  arms  when 
there  arose  from  the  courtyard  of  the  farm  a  confused  sound 
of  steps  and  voices.  Jean  listened  in  astonishment. 

"  What  is  it  ?  It  can't  be  Father  Fouchard  returning,  for  I 
did  not  hear  his  wagon  wheels."  Lying  on  his  back  in  his 
silent  chamber,  with  nothing  to  occupy  his  mind,  he  had 
become  acquainted  with  every  detail  of  the  routine  of  home 
life  on  the  farm,  of  which  the  sounds  were  all  familiar  to  his 
ears.  Presently  he  added  :  "Ah,  I  see  ;  it  is  those  men  again, 
the  francs-tireurs  from  Dieulet,  after  something  to  eat." 

"  Quick,  I  must  be  gone  !  "  said  Silvine,  hurrying  from  the 
room  and  leaving  him  again  in  darkness.  "  I  must  make 
haste  and  see  they  get  their  loaves." 

A  loud  knocking  was  heard  at  the  kitchen  door  and  Prosper, 
who  was  beginning  to  tire  of  his  solitude,  was  holding  a  hesi- 
tating parley  with  the  visitors.  He  did  not  like  to  admit 
strangers  when  the  master  was  away,  fearing  he  might  be  held 
responsible  for  any  damage  that  might  ensue.  His  good  luck 
befriended  him  in  this  instance,  however,  for  just  then  Father 
Fouchard's  carriole  came  lumbering  up  the  acclivity,  the 
tramp  of  the  horse's  feet  resounding  faintly  on  the  snow  that 
covered  the  road.  It  was  the  old  man  who  welcomed  the  new- 
comers. 

"  Ah,  good  !  it's  you  fellows.  What  have  you  on  that  wheel- 
barrow ?  '* 

Sambuc,  lean  and  hungry  as  a  robber  and  wrapped  in  the 
folds  of  a  blue  woolen  blouse  many  times  too  large  for  him, 


THE  DOWNFALL.  463 

did  not  even  hear  the  farmer  ;  he  was  storming  angrily  at 
Prosper,  his  honest  brother,  as  he  called  him,  who  had  only 
then  made  up  his  mind  to  unbar  the  door. 

"  Say,  you  !  do  you  take  us  for  beggars  that  you  leave  us 
standing  in  the  cold  in  weather  such  as  this  ?  " 

But  Prosper  did  not  trouble  himself  to  make  any  other 
reply  than  was  expressed  in  a  contemptuous  shrug  of  the 
shoulders,  and  while  he  was  leading  the  horse  off  to  the  stable 
old  Fouchard,  bending  over  the  wheelbarrow,  again  spoke  up. 

"  So,  it's  two  dead  sheep  you've  brought  me.  It's  lucky 
it's  freezing  weather,  otherwise  we  should  know  what  they  are 
by  the  smell." 

Cabasse  and  Ducat,  Sambuc's  two  trusty  henchmen,  who 
accompanied  him  in  all  his  expeditions,  raised  their  voices  in 
protest. 

"  Oh  !  "  cried  the  first,  with  his  loud-mouthed  Proven£al 
volubility,  "  they've  only  been  dead  three  days.  They're 
some  of  the  animals  that  died  on  the  Raffins  farm,  where  the 
disease  has  been  putting  in  its  fine  work  of  late." 

"  Procumbit  humi  bos,"  spouted  the  other,  the  ex-court 
officer  whose  excessive  predilection  for  the  ladies  had  got  him 
into  difficulties,  and  who  was  fond  of  airing  his  Latin  on 
occasion. 

Father  Fouchard  shook  his  head  and  continued  to  dis- 
parage their  merchandise,  declaring  it  was  too  "  high." 
Finally  he  took  the  three  men  into  the  kitchen,  where  he  con- 
cluded the  business  by  saying  : 

"  After  all,  they'll  have  to  take  it  and  make  the  best  of  it. 
It  comes  just  in  season,  for  there's  not  a  cutlet  left  in  Rau- 
court.  When  a  man's  hungry  he'll  eat  anything,  won't  he?" 
And  very  well  pleased  at  heart,  he  called  to  Silvine,  who  just 
then  came  in  from  putting  Chariot  to  bed  :  "  Let's  have  some 
glasses ;  we  are  going  to  drink  to  the  downfall  of  old 
Bismarck." 

Fouchard  maintained  amicable  relations  with  these  francs- 
tireurs  from  Dieulet  wood,  who  for  some  three  months  past 
had  been  emerging  at  nightfall  from  the  fastnesses  where  they 
made  their  lurking  place,  killing  and  robbing  a  Prussian 
whenever  they  could  steal  upon  him  unawares,  descending  on 
the  farms  and  plundering  the  peasants  when  there  was  a 
scarcity  of  the  other  kind  of  game.  They  were  the  terror  of 
all  the  villages  in  the  vicinity,  and  the  more  so  that  every  time 
a  provision  train  was  attacked  or  a  sentry  murdered  the 


464  THE  DOWNFALL. 

German  authorities  avenged  themselves  on  the  adjacent 
hamlets,  the  inhabitants  of  which  they  accused  of  abetting  the 
outrages,  inflicting  heavy  penalties  on  them,  carrying  off  their 
mayors  as  prisoners,  burning  their  poor  hovels.  Nothing 
would  have  pleased  the  peasants  more  than  to  deliver  Sam- 
buc  and  his  band  to  the  enemy,  and  they  were  only  deterred 
from  doing  so  by  their  fear  of  being  shot  in  the  back  at 
a  turn  in  the  road  some  night  should  their  attempt  fail  of 
success. 

It  had  occurred  to  Fouchard  to  inaugurate  a  traffic  with 
them.  Roaming  about  the  country  in  every  direction,  peer- 
ing with  their  sharp  eyes  into  ditches  and  cattle  sheds,  they 
had  become  his  purveyors  of  dead  animals.  Never  an  ox  or  a 
sheep  within  a  radius  of  three  leagues  was  stricken  down  by 
disease  but  they  came  by  night  with  their  barrow  and  wheeled 
it  away  to  him,  and  he  paid  them  in  provisions,  most 
generally  in  bread,  that  Silvine  baked  in  great  batches 
expressly  for  the  purpose.  Besides,  if  he  had  no  great  love 
for  them,  he  experienced  a  secret  feeling  of  admiration  for 
the  francs-tireurs,  a  set  of  handy  rascals  who  went  their  way 
and  snapped  their  fingers  at  the  world,  and  although  he  was 
making  a  fortune  from  his  dealings  with  the  Prussians,  he 
could  never  refrain  from  chuckling  to  himself  with  grim, 
savage  laughter  as  often  as  he  heard  that  one  of  them  had 
been  found  lying  at  the  roadside  with  his  throat  cut. 

"  Your  good  health  ! "  said  he,  touching  glasses  with  the 
three  men.  Then,  wiping  his  mouth  with  the  back  of  his 
hand  :  "  Say,  have  you  heard  of  the  fuss  they're  making  over 
the  two  headless  uhlans  that  they  picked  up  over  there  near 
Villecourt  ?  Villecourt  was  burned  yesterday,  you  know ; 
they  say  it  was  the  penalty  the  village  had  to  pay  for  harbor- 
ing you.  You'll  have  to  be  prudent,  don't  you  see,  and  not 
show  yourselves  about  here  for  a  time.  I'll  see  the  bread  is 
sent  you  somewhere." 

Sambuc  shrugged  his  shoulders  and  laughed  contemptu- 
ously. What  did  he  care  for  the  Prussians,  the  dirty  cowards! 
And  all  at  once  he  exploded  in  a  fit  of  anger,  pounding  the 
table  with  his  fist. 

"  Tonnerre  de  Dieu  !  I  don't  mind  the  uhlans  so  much  ; 
they're  not  so  bad,  but  it's  the  other  one  I'd  like  to  get  a 
chance  at  once — you  know  whom  I  mean,  the  other  fellow,  the 
spy,  the  man  who  used  to  work  for  you." 

"  Goliah  ?  "  said  Father  Fouchard. 


THE  DOWNFALL.       - 

Silvine,  who  had  resumed  her  sewing,  dropped  it  in  her  lap 
and  listened  with  intense  interest. 

"  That's  his  name,  Goliah  !  Ah,  the  brigand  !  he  is  as 
familiar  with  every  inch  of  the  wood  of  Dieulet  as  I  am  with 
my  pocket,  and  he's  like  enough  to  get  us  pinched  some  fine 
morning.  I  heard  of  him  to-day  at  the  Maltese  Cross  making 
his  boast  that  he  would  settle  our  business  for  us  before  we're 
a  week  older.  A  dirty  hound,  he  is,  and  he  served  as  guide 
to  the  Prussians  the  day  before  the  battle  of  Beaumont ;  I 
leave  it  to  these  fellows  if  he  didn't." 

"  It's  as  true  as  there's  a  candle  standing  on  that  table  !  " 
attested  Cabasse. 

"Per  silentia  arnica  luna"  added  Ducat,  whose  quotations 
were  not  always  conspicuous  for  their  appositeness. 

But  Sambuc  again  brought  his  heavy  fist  down  upon  the 
table.  "He  has  been  tried  and  adjudged  guilty,  the  scoundrel! 
If  ever  you  hear  of  his  being  in  the  neighborhood  just  send 
me  word,  and  his  head  shall  go  and  keep  company  with  the 
heads  of  the  two  uhlans  in  the  Meuse  ;  yes,  by  G-d  !  I 
pledge  you  my  word  it  shall." 

There  was  silence.  Silvine  was  very  white,  and  gazed  at 
the  men  with  unwinking,  staring  eyes. 

*'  Those  are  things  best  not  be  talked  too  much  about,"  old 
Fouchard  prudently  declared.  "  Your  health,  and  good-night 
to  you." 

They  emptied  the  second  bottle,  and  Prosper,  who  had  re- 
turned from  the  stable,  lent  a  hand  to  load  upon  the  wheelbarrow, 
whence  the  dead  sheep  had  been  removed,  the  loaves  that 
Silvine  had  placed  in  an  old  grain-sack.  But  he  turned  his 
back  and  made  no  reply  when  his  brother  and  the  other  two 
men,  wheeling  the  barrow  before  them  through  the  snow, 
stalked  away  and  were  lost  to  sight  in  the  darkness,  repeat- 
ing : 

"  Good-night,  good-night !  an  plaisir  /  " 

They  had  breakfasted  the  following  morning,  and  Father 
Fouchard  was  alone  in  the  kitchen  when  the  door  was  thrown 
open  and  Goliah  in  the  flesh  entered  the  room,  big  and  burly, 
with  the  ruddy  hue  of  health  on  his  face  and  his  tranquil 
smile.  If  the  old  man  experienced  anything  in  the  nature  of 
a  shock  at  the  suddenness  of  the  apparition  he  let  no  evidence 
of  it  escape  him.  He  peered  at  the  other  through  his  half- 
closed  lids  while  he  came  forward  and  shook  his  former  env 
ployer  warmly  by  the  hand. 


466  THE  DOWNFALL. 

"  How  are  you,  Father  Fouchard?  " 

Then  only  the  old  peasant  seemed  to  recognize  him. 

"  Hallo,  my  boy,  is  it  you  ?  You've  been  filling  out ;  how 
fat  you  are  !" 

And  he  eyed  him  from  head  to  foot  as  he  stood  there,  clad 
in  a  sort  of  soldier's  greatcoat  of  coarse  blue  cloth,  with  a  cap 
of  the  same  material,  wearing  a  comfortable,  prosperous  air  of 
self-content.  His  speech  betrayed  no  foreign  accent,  more- 
over ;  he  spoke  with  the  slow,  thick  utterance  of  the  peasants 
of  the  district. 

"  Yes,  Father  Fouchard,  it's  I  in  person.  I  didn't  like  to 
be  in  the  neighborhood  without  dropping  in  just  to  say  how- 
do-you-do  to  you." 

The  old  man  could  not  rid  himself  of  a  feeling  of  distrust. 
What  was  the  fellow  after,  anyway  ?  Could  he  have  heard  of 
the  francs-tireurs'  visit  to  the  farmhouse  the  night  before  ? 
That  was  something  he  must  try  to  ascertain.  First  of  all, 
however,  it  would  be  best  to  treat  him  politely,  as  he  seemed 
to  have  come  there  in  a  friendly  spirit. 

"  Well,  my  lad,  since  you  are  so  pleasant  we'll  have  a  glass 
together  for  old  times'  sake." 

He  went  himself  and  got  a  bottle  and  two  glasses.  Such 
expenditure  of  wine  went  to  his  heart,  but  one  must  know  how 
to  be  liberal  when  he  has  business  on  hand.  The  scene  of  the 
preceding  night  was  repeated,  they  touched  glasses  with  the 
same  words,  the  same  gestures. 

"  Here's  to  your  good  health,  Father  Fouchard." 

"  And  here's  to  yours,  my  lad." 

Then  Goliah  unbent  and  his  face  assumed  an  expression  of 
satisfaction  ;  he  looked  about  him  like  a  man  pleased  with  the 
sight  of  objects  that  recalled  bygone  times.  He  did  not  speak 
of  the  past,  however,  nor,  for  the  matter  of  that,  did  he  speak 
of  the  present.  The  conversation  ran  on  the  extremely  cold 
weather,  which  would  interfere  with  farming  operations  ;  there 
was  one  good  thing  to  be  said  for  the  snow,  however  :  it  would 
kill  off  the  insects.  He  barely  alluded,  with  a  slightly  pained 
expression,  to  the  partially  concealed  hatred,  the  affright  and 
scorn,  with  which  he  had  been  received  in  the  other  houses  of 
Remilly.  Every  man  owes  allegiance  to  his  country,  doesn't 
he?  It  is  quite  clear  he  should  serve  his  country  as  well  as 
he  knows  how.  In  France,  however,  no  one  looked  at  the 
matter  in  that  light ;  there  were  things  about  which  people 
had  very  queer  notions.  And  as  the  old  man  listened  and 


THE  DOWNFALL.  467 

looked  at  that  broad,  innocent,  good-natured  face,  beaming 
with  frankness  and  good-will,  he  said  to  himself  that  surely 
that  excellent  fellow  had  had  no  evil  designs  in  coming  there. 

"  So  you  are  all  alone  to-day,  Father  Fouchard  ?  " 

"  Oh,  no  ;  Silvine  is  out  at  the  barn,  feeding  the  cows. 
Would  you  like  to  see  her  ?  " 

Goliah  laughed.  "  Well,  yes.  To  be  quite  frank  with  you, 
it  was  on  Silvine's  account  that  I  came." 

Old  Fouchard  felt  as  if  a  great  load  had  been  taken  off  his 
mind  ;  he  went  to  the  door  and  shouted  at  the  top  of  his 
voice  : 

"  Silvine  !  Silvine  !     There's  someone  here  to  see  you." 

And  he  went  away  about  his  business  without  further  appre- 
hension, since  the  lass  was  there  to  look  out  for  the  property. 
A  man  must  be  in  a  bad  way,  he  reflected,  to  let  a  fancy  for 
a  girl  keep  such  a  hold  on  him  after  such  a  length  of  time, 
years  and  years. 

When  Silvine  entered  the  room  she  was  not  surprised  to  find 
herself  in  presence  of  Goliah,  who  remained  seated  and  con- 
templated her  with  his  broad  smile,  in  which,  however,  there  was 
a  trace  of  embarrassment.  She  had  been  expecting  him,  and 
stood  stock-still  immediately  she  stepped  across  the  doorsill, 
nerving  herself  and  bracing  all  her  faculties.  Little  Chariot 
came  running  up  and  hid  among  her  petticoats,  astonished 
and  frightened  to  see  a  strange  man  there.  Then  succeeded 
a  few  seconds  of  awkward  silence. 

"  And  this  is  the  little  one,  then  ? "  Goliah  asked  atlast  in 
his  most  dulcet  tone. 

"  Yes,"  was  Silvine's  curt,  stem  answer. 

Silence  again  settled  down  upon  the  room.  He  had  known 
there  was  a  child,  although  he  had  gone  away  before  the  birth 
of  his  offspring,  but  this  was  the  first  time  he  had  laid  eyes  on 
it.  He  therefore  wished  to  explain  matters,  like  a  young  man 
of  sense  who  is  confident  he  can  give  good  reasons  for  his 
conduct. 

"  Come,  Silvine,  I  know  you  cherish  bitter  feelings  against 
me — and  yet  there  is  no  reason  why  you  should.  If  I  went 
away,  if  I  have  been  cause  to  you  of  so  much  suffering,  you 
might  have  told  yourself  that  perhaps  it  was  because  I  was  not 
my  own  master.  When  a  man  has  masters  over  him  he  must 
obey  them,  mustn't  he?  If  they  had  sent  me  off  on  foot  to 
make  a  journey  of  a  hundred  leagues  I  should  have  been 
obliged  to  go.  And,  of  course,  I  couldn't  say  a  word  to  you 


468  THE  DOWNFALL. 

about  it ;  you  have  no  idea  how  bad  it  made  me  feel  to  go 
away  as  I  did  without  bidding  you  good-by.  I  won't  say  to 
you  now  that  I  felt  certain  I  should  return  to  you  some  day  ; 
still,  I  always  fully  expected  that  I  should,  and,  as  you  see, 
here  I  am  again " 

She  had  turned  away  her  head  and  was  looking  through  the 
window  at  the  show  that  carpeted  the  courtyard,  as  if  resolved 
to  hear  no  word  he  said.  Her  persistent  silence  troubled  him  ; 
he  interrupted  his  explanations  to  say  : 

"  Do  you  know  you  are  prettier  than  ever  !  " 

True  enough,  she  was  very  beautiful  in  her  pallor,  with  her 
magnificent  great  eyes  that  illuminated  all  her  face.  The  heavy 
coils  of  raven  hair  that  crowned  her  head  seemed  the  outward 
symbol  of  the  inward  sorrow  that  was  gnawing  at  her  heart. 

"  Come,  don't  be  angry  !  you  know  that  I  mean  you  no  harm. 
If  I  did  not  love  you  still  I  should  not  have  come  back, 
that's  very  certain.  Now  that  I  am  here  and  everything  is  all 
right  once  more  we  shall  see  each  other  now  and  then,  shan't 
we  ?  " 

She  suddenly  stepped  a  pace  backward,  and  looking  him 
squarely  in  the  face  : 

"  Never  !  " 

"  Never  ! — and  why  ?  Are  you  not  my  wife,  is  not  that 
child  ours  ?" 

She  never  once  took  her  eyes  from  off  his  face,  speaking 
with  impressive  slowness : 

"  Listen  to  me  ;  it  will  be  better  to  end  that  matter  once  for 
all.  You  knew  Honore  ;  I  loved  him,  he  was  the  only  man 
who  ever  had  my  love.  And  now  he  is  dead  ;  you  robbed 
me  of  him,  you  murdered  him  over  there  on  the  battlefield, 
and  never  again  will  I  be  yours.  Never  !  " 

She  raised  her  hand  aloft  as  if  invoking  heaven  to  record 
her  vow,  while  in  her  voice  was  such  depth  of  hatred  that  for 
a  moment  he  stood  as  if  cowed,  then  murmured  : 

"  Yes,  I  heard  that  Honore  was  dead ;  he  was  a  very  nice  young 
fellow.  But  what  could  you  expect  ?  Many  another  has  died 
as  well  ;  it  is  the  fortune  of  war.  And  then  it  seemed  to  me 
that  once  he  was  dead  there  would  no  longer  be  a  barrier  be- 
tween us,  and  let  me  remind  you,  Silvine,  that  after  all  I  was 
never  brutal  toward  you " 

But  he  stopped  short  at  sight  of  her  agitation  ;  she  seemed 
as  if  about  to  tear  her  own  flesh  in  her  horror  and  distress. 

"  Oh  !  that  is  just  it  ;  yes,  it  is  that  which  seems  as  if  it 


THE  DOWNFALL.  469 

would  drive  me  wild.  Why,  oh  !  why  did  I  yield  when  I  never 
loved  you  ?  Honore's  departure  left  me  so  broken  down,  I 
was  so  sick  in  mind  and  body  that  never  have  I  been  able  to 
recall  any  portion  of  the  circumstances  ;  perhaps  it  was  be- 
cause you  talked  to  me  of  him  and  appeared  to  love  him.  My 
God  !  the  long  nights  I  have  spent  thinking  of  that  time  and 
weeping  until  the  fountain  of  my  tears  was  dry  !  It  is  dread- 
ful to  have  done  a  thing  that  one  had  no  wish  to  do  and  after- 
ward be  unable  to  explain  the  reason  of  it.  And  he  had  for- 
given me,  he  had  told  me  that  he  would  marry  me  in  spite  of 
all  when  his  time  was  out,  if  those  hateful  Prussians  only  let 
him  live.  And  you  think  I  will  return  to  you.  No,  never, 
never  !  not  if  I  were  to  die  for  it  !  " 

Goliah's  face  grew  dark.  She  had  always  been  so  submis- 
sive, and  now  he  saw  she  was  not  to  be  shaken  in  her  fixed 
resolve.  Notwithstanding  his  easy-going  nature  he  was  deter- 
mined he  would  have  her,  even  if  he  should  be  compelled  to 
use  force,  now  that  he  was  in  a  position  to  enforce  his  author- 
ity, and  it  was  only  his  inherent  prudence,  the  instinct  that 
counseled  him  to  patience  and  diplomacy,  that  kept  him  from 
resorting  to  violent  measures  now.  The  hard-fisted  colossus 
was  averse  to  bringing  his  physical  powers  into  play  ;  he  there- 
fore had  recourse  to  another  method  for  making  her  listen  to 
reason. 

"Very  well  ;  since  you  will  have  nothing  more  to  do  with 
me  I  will  take  away  the  child." 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?  " 

Chariot,  whose  presence  had  thus  far  been  forgotten  by 
them  both,  had  remained  hanging  to  his  mother's  skirts,  strug- 
gling bravely  to  keep  down  his  rising  sobs  as  the  altercation 
waxed  more  warm.  Goliah,  leaving  his  chair,  approached  the 
group. 

"  You're  my  boy,  aren't  you  ?  You're  a  good  little  Prussian. 
Come  along  with  me." 

But  before  he  could  lay  hands  on  the  child  Silvine,  all  a-quiver 
with  excitement,  had  thrown  her  arms  about  it  and  clasped  it 
to  her  bosom. 

"  He,  a  Prussian,  never  !  He's  French,  was  born  in 
France  !  " 

"  You  say  he's  French  !  Look  at  him,  and  look  at  me  ;  he's 
my  very  image.  Can  you  say  he  resembles  you  in  any  one  of 
his  features  ? " 

She  turned  her  eyes  on  the  big,  strapping  lothario,  with  his 


470  THE  DOWNFALL. 

curling  hair  and  beard  and  his  broad,  pink  face,  in  which  the 
great  blue  eyes  gleamed  like  globes  of  polished  porcelain  ;  and 
it  was  only  too  true,  the  little  one  had  the  same  yellow  thatch, 
the  same  rounded  cheeks,  the  same  light  eyes  ;  every  feature 
of  the  hated  race  was  reproduced  faithfully  in  him.  A  tress 
of  her  jet  black  hair  that  had  escaped  from  its  confinement 
and  wandered  down  upon  her  shoulder  in  the  agitation  of  the 
moment  showed  her  how  little  there  was  in  common  between 
the  child  and  her. 

"  I  bore  him  ;  he  is  mine  !  "  she  screamed  in  fury.  "He's 
French,  and  will  grow  up  to  be  a  Frenchman,  knowing  no 
word  of  your  dirty  German  language  ;  and  some  day  he  shall 
go  and  help  to  kill  the  whole  pack  of  you,  to  avenge  those 
whom  you  have  murdered  !  " 

Chariot,  tightening  his  clasp  about  her  neck,  began  to  cry, 
shrieking : 

"  Mammy,  mammy,  I'm  'fraid  !  take  me  away  !  " 

Then  Goliah,  doubtless  because  he  did  not  wish  to  create  a 
scandal,  stepped  back,  and  in  a  harsh,  stern  voice,  unlike  any- 
thing she  had  ever  heard  from  his  lips  before,  made  this 
declaration  : 

"  Bear  in  mind  what  I  am  about  to  tell  you,  Silvine.  1 
know  all  that  happens  at  this  farm.  You  harbor  the  francs- 
tireurs  from  the  wood  of  Dieulet,  among  them  that  Sambuc 
who  is  brother  to  your  hired  man  ;  you  supply  the  bandits  with 
provisions.  And  I  know  that  that  hired  man,  Prosper,  is  a 
chasseur  d'Afrique  and  a  deserter,  and  belongs  to  us  by  rights. 
Further,  I  know  that  you  are  concealing  on  your  premises  a 
wounded  man,  another  soldier,  whom  a  word  from  me  would 
suffice  to  consign  to  a  German  fortress.  What  do  you  think  : 
am  I  not  well  informed?" 

She  was  listening  to  him  now,  tongue-tied  and  terror-stricken, 
while  little  Chariot  kept  piping  in  her  ear  with  lisping  voice  : 

"Oh  !  mammy,  mammy,  take  me  away,  I'm  'fraid  !  " 

"  Come,"  resumed  Goliah,  "  I'm  not  a  bad  fellow,  and  I 
don't  like  quarrels  and  bickering,  as  you  are  well  aware,  but  I 
swear  by  all  that's  holy  I  will  have  them  all  arrested,  Father 
Fouchard  and  the  rest,  unless  you  consent  to  admit  me  to 
your  chamber  on  Monday  next.  I  will  take  the  child,  too,  and 
send  him  away  to  Germany  to  my  mother,  who  will  be  very 
glad  to  have  him  ;  for  you  have  no  further  right  to  him,  you 
know,  if  you  are  going  to  leave  me.  You  understand  me,  don't 
you  ?  The  folks  wi41  all  be  gone,  and  all  I  shall  have  to  do 


THE  DOWNFALL.  47 1 

• 

will  be  to  come  and  carry  him  away.     I  am  the  master  ;  I  can 
do  what  pleases  me — come,  what  have  you  to  say  ? " 

But  she  made  no  answer,  straining  the  little  one  more 
closely  to  her  breast  as  if  fearing  he  might  be  torn  from  her 
then  and  there,  and  in  her  great  eyes  was  a  look  of  mingled 
terror  and  execration. 

"  It  is  well  ;  I  give  you  three  days  to  think  the  matter  over. 
See  to  it  that  your  bedroom  window  that  opens  on  the  orchard 
is  left  open.  If  I  do  not  find  the  window  open  next  Monday 
evening  at  seven  o'clock  I  will  come  with  a  detail  the  following 
day  and  arrest  the  inmates  of  the  house,  and  then  will  return 
and  bear  away  the  little  one.  Think  of  it  well  ;  au  revoir, 
Silvine." 

He  sauntered  quietly  away,  and  she  remained  standing, 
rooted  to  her  place,  her  head  filled  with  such  a  swarming,  buz- 
zing crowd  of  terrible  thoughts  that  it  seemed  to  her  she  must 
go  mad.  And  during  the  whole  of  that  long  day  the  tempest 
raged  in  her.  At  first  the  thought  occurred  to  her  instinctively 
to  take  her  child  in  her  arms  and  fly  with  him,  wherever  chance 
might  direct,  no  matter  where  ;  but  what  would  become  of 
thetii  when  night  should  fall  and  envelop  them  in  darkness? 
how  earn  a  livelihood  for  him  and  for  herself?  Then  she 
determined  she  would  speak  to  Jean,  would  notify  Prosper, 
and  Father  Fouchard  himself,  and  again  she  hesitated  and 
changed  her  mind  :  was  she  sufficiently  certain  of  the  friend- 
ship of  those  people  that  she  could  be  sure  they  would  not 
sacrifice  her  to  the  general  safety,she  who  was  cause  that  they 
were  menaced  all  with  such  misfortune  ?  No,  she  would  say 
nothing  to  anyone  ;  she  would  rely  on  her  own  efforts  to 
extricate  herself  from  the  peril  she  had  incurred  by  braving 
that  bad  man.  But  what  scheme  could  she  devise;  mon  Dieu! 
how  could  she  avert  the  threatened  evil,  for  her  upright  nature 
revolted  ;  she  could  never  have  forgiven  herself  had  she  been 
the  instrument  of  bringing  disaster  to  so  many  people,  to  Jean 
in  particular,  who  had  always  been  so  good  to  Chariot. 

The  hours  passed,  one  by  one  ;  the  next  day's  sun  went 
<down,  and  still  she  had  decided  upon  nothing.  She  went 
about  her  household  duties  as  usual,  sweeping  the  kitchen, 
attending  to  the  cows,  making  the  soup.  No  word  fell  from 
her  lips,  and  rising  ever  amid  the  ominous  silence  she  pre- 
served, her  hatred  of  Goliah  grew  with  every  hour  and  impreg- 
nated her  nature  with  its  poison.  He  had  been  her  curse  ; 
had  it  not  been  for  him  she  would  have  waited  for  Honore", 


472  THE  DOWNFALL. 

• 

and  Honore  would  be  living  now,  and  she  would  be  happy. 
Think  of  his  tone  and  manner  when  he  made  her  understand 
he  was  the  master  !  He  had  told  her  the  truth,  moreover  ; 
there  were  no  longer  gendarmes  or  judges  to  whom  she  could 
apply  for  protection  ;  might  made  right.  Oh,  to  be  the 
stronger  !  to  seize  and  overpower  him  when  he  came,  he  who 
talked  of  seizing  others  !  All  she  considered  was  the  child, 
flesh  of  her  flesh  ;  the  chance-met  father  was  naught,  never 
had  been  aught,  to  her.  She  had  no  particle  of  wifely  feeling 
toward  him,  only  a  sentiment  of  concentrated  rage,  the  deep- 
seated  hatred  of  the  vanquished  for  the  victor,  when  she 
thought  of  him.  Rather  than  surrender  the  child  to  him  she 
would  have  killed  it,  and  killed  herself  afterward.  And  as  she 
had  told  him,  the  child  he  had  left  her  as  a  gift  of  hate  she 
would  have  wished  were  already  grown  and  capable  of  de- 
fending her  ;  she  looked  into  the  future  and  beheld  him  with 
a  musket,  slaughtering  hecatombs  of  Prussians.  Ah,  yes  !  one 
Frenchman  more  to  assist  in  wreaking  vengeance  on  the 
hereditary  foe  ! 

There  was  but  one  day  remaining,  however  ;  she  could  not 
afford  to  waste  more  time  in  arriving  at  a  decision.  At  the 
very  outset,  indeed,  a  hideous  project  had  presented  itself 
among  the  whirling  thoughts  that  filled  her  poor,  disordered 
mind  :  to  notify  the  francs-tireurs,  to  give  Sambucthe  informa- 
tion he  desired  so  eagerly  ;  but  the  idea  had  not  then  assumed 
definite  form  and  shape,  and  she  had  put  it  from  her  as  too 
atrocious,  not  suffering  herself  even  to  consider  it :  was  not 
that  man  the  father  of  her  child  ?  she  could  not  be  accessory 
to  his  murder.  Then  the  thought  returned,  and  kept  returning 
at  more  frequently  recurring  intervals,  little  by  little  forcing 
itself  upon  her  and  enfolding  her  in  its  unholy  influence  ;  and 
now  it  had  entire  possession  of  her,  holding  her  captive  by  the 
strength  of  its  simple  and  unanswerable  logic.  The  peril  and 
calamity  that  overhung  them  all  would  vanish  with  that  man  ; 
he  in  his  grave,  Jean,  Prosper,  Father  Fouchard  would  have 
nothing  more  to  fear,  while  she  herself  would  retain  possession 
of  Chariot  and  there  would  be  never  a  one  in  all  the  world  to 
challenge  her  right  to  him.  All  that  day  she  turned  and  re- 
turned the  project  in  her  mind,  devoid  of  further  strength  to 
bid  it  down,  considering  despite  herself  the  murder  in  its 
different  aspects,  planning  and  arranging  its  most  minute 
details.  And  now  it  was  become  the  one  fixed,  dominant  idea, 
making  a  portion  of  her  being,  that  she  no  longer  stopped  to 


THE  DOWNFALL.  473 

reason  on,  and  when  finally  she  came  to  act,  in  obedience  to 
that  dictate  of  the  inevitable,  she  went  forward  as  in  a  dream, 
subject  to  the  volition  of  another,  a  someone  within  her  whose 
presence  she  had  never  known  till  then. 

Father  Fouchard  had  taken  alarm,  and  on  Sunday  he  dis- 
patched a  messenger  to  the  francs-tireurs  to  inform  them  that 
their  supply  of  bread  would  be  forwarded  to  the  quarries  of 
Boisville,  a  lonely  spot  a  mile  and  a  quarter  from  the  house,  and 
as  Prosper  had  other  work  to  do  the  old  man  sent  Silvine  with 
the  wheelbarrow.  It  was  manifest  to  the  young  woman  that 
Destiny  had  taken  the  matter  in  its  hands  ;  she  spoke,  she 
made  an  appointment  with  Sambuc  for  the  following  evening, 
and  there  was  no  tremor  in  her  voice,  as  if  she  were  pursuing 
a  course  marked  out  for  her  from  which  she  could  not  depart. 
The  next  day  there  were  still  other  signs  which  proved  that 
not  only  sentient  beings,  but  inanimate  objects  as  well,  favored 
the  crime.  In  the  first  place  Father  Fouchard  was  called  sud- 
denly away  to  Raucourt,  and  knowing  he  could  not  get  back 
until  after  eight  o'clock,  instructed  them  not  to  wait  dinner 
for  him.  Then  Henriette,  whose  night  off  it  was,  received 
word  from  the  hospital  late  in  the  afternoon  that  the  nurse 
whose  turn  it  was  to  watch  was  ill  and  she  would  have  to  take 
her  place  ;  and  as  Jean  never  left  his  chamber  under  any  cir- 
cumstances, the  only  remaining  person  from  whom  interfer- 
ence was  to  be  feared  was  Prosper.  It  revolted  the  chasseur 
d'Afrique,  the  idea  of  killing  a  man  that  way,  three  against 
one,  but  when  his  brother  arrived,  accompanied  by  his  faithful 
myrmidons,  the  disgust  he  felt  for  the  villainous  crew  was  lost 
in  his  detestation  of  the  Prussians  ;  sure  he  wasn't  going  to 
put  himself  out  to  save  one  of  the  dirty  hounds,  even  if  they 
did  do  him  up  in  a  way  that  was  not  according  to  rule  ;  and 
he  settled  matters  with  his  conscience  by  going  to  bed  and 
burying  his  head  under  the  blankets,  that  he  might  hear  noth- 
ing that  would  tempt  him  to  act  in  accordance  with  his  sol- 
dierly instincts. 

It  lacked  a  quarter  of  seven,  and  Chariot  seemed  determined 
not  to  go  to  sleep.  As  a  general  thing  his  head  declined  upon 
the  table  the  moment  he  had  swallowed  his  last  mouthful  of 
soup. 

"  Come,  my  darling,  go  to  sleep,"  said  Silvine,  who  had 
taken  him  to  Henriette's  room  ;  "  mamma  has  put  you  in  the 
nice  lady's  big  bed." 

But  the  child  was  excited  by  the  novelty  of  the  situation  ; 


474  THE  DOWNFALL. 

he  kicked  and  sprawled  upon  the  bed,  bubbling  with  laughter 
and  animal  spirits. 

"  No,  no — stay,  little  mother — play,  little  mother." 

She  was  very  gentle  and  patient,  caressing  him  tenderly  and 
repeating  : 

"  Go  to  sleep,  my  darling  ;  shut  your  eyes  and  go  to  sleep, 
to  please  mamma." 

And  finally  slumber  overtook  him,  with  a  happy  laugh  upon 
his  lips.  She  had  not  taken  the  trouble  to  undress  him  ;  she 
covered  him  warmly  and  left  the  room,  and  so  soundly  was  he 
in  the  habit  of  sleeping  that  she  did  not  even  think  it  necessary 
to  turn  the  key  in  the  door. 

Silvine  had  never  known  herself  to  be  so  calm,  so  clear  and 
alert  of  mind.  Her  decision  was  prompt,  her  movements  were 
light,  as  if  she  had  parted  company  with  her  material  frame 
and  were  acting  under  the  domination  of  that  other  self,  that 
inner  being  which  she  had  never  known  till  then.  She  had 
already  let  in  Sambuc,  with  Cabasse  and  Ducat,  enjoining  upon 
them  the  exercise  of  the  strictest  caution,  and  now  she  con- 
ducted them  to  her  bedroom  and  posted  them  on  eitherside  the 
window,  which  she  threw  open  wide,  notwithstanding  the  in- 
tense cold.  The  darkness  was  profound  ;  barely  a  faint  glim- 
mer of  light  penetrated  the  room,  reflected  from  the  bosom  of 
the  snow  without.  A  deathlike  stillness  lay  on  the  deserted 
fields,  the  minutes  lagged  interminably.  Then,  when  at  last  the 
deadened  sound  was  heard  of  footsteps  drawing  near,  Silvine 
withdrew  and  returned  to  the  kitchen,  where  she  seated  herself 
and  waited,  motionless  as  a  corpse,  her  great  eyes  fixed  on  the 
flickering  flame  of  the  solitary  candle. 

And  the  suspense  was  long  protracted,  Goliah  prowling 
warily  about  the  house  before  he  would  risk  entering.  He 
thought  he  could  depend  on  the  young  woman,  and  had  there- 
fore come  unarmed  save  for  a  single  revolver  in  his  belt,  but  he 
was  haunted  by  a  dim  presentiment  of  evil  ;  he  pushed  open 
the  window  to  its  entire  extent  and  thrust  his  head  into  the 
apartment,  calling  below  his  breath  : 

"  Silvine  !  Silvine  !  " 

Since  he  found  the  window  open  to  him  it  must  be  that  she 
had  thought  better  of  the  matter  and  changed  her  mind.  It 
gave  him  great  pleasure  to  have  it  so,  although  he  would  rather 
she  had  been  there  to  welcome  him  and  reassure  his  fears. 
Doubtless  Father  Fouchard  had  summoned  her  aw.'.y  ;  some 


THE  DOWNFALL.  475 

odds  and  ends  of  work  to  finish  up.  He  raised  his  voice  a 
little  : 

"  Silvine  !    Silvine  !  " 

No  answer,  not  a  sound.  And  he  threw  his  leg  over  the 
window-sill  and  entered  the  room,  intending  to  get  into  bed 
and  snuggle  away  among  the  blankets  while  waiting,  it  was  so 
bitter  cold. 

All  at  once  there  was  a  furious  rush,  with  the  noise  of  tramp- 
ling, shuffling  feet,  and  smothered  oaths  and  the  sound  of  la- 
bored breathing.  Sambuc  and  his  two  companions  had  thrown 
themselves  on  Goliah,  and  notwithstanding  their  superiority 
in  numbers  they  found  it  no  easy  task  to  overpower  the  giant, 
to  whom  his  peril  lent  tenfold  strength.  The  panting  of  the 
combatants,  the  straining  of  sinews  and  cracking  of  joints,  re- 
sounded for  a  moment  in  the  obscurity.  The  revolver,  fortu- 
nately, had  fallen  to  the  floor  in  the  struggle.  Cabasse's  chok- 
ing, inarticulate  voice  was  heard  exclaiming  :  "  The  cords, 
the  cords  !  "  and  Ducat  handed  to  Sambuc  the  coil  of  thin  rope 
with  which  they  had  had  the  foresight  to  provide  themselves. 
Scant  ceremony  was  displayed  in  binding  their  hapless  victim  ; 
the  operation  was  conducted  to  the  accompaniment  of  kicks 
and  cuffs.  The  legs  were  secured  first,  then  the  arms  were 
firmly  pinioned  te  the  sides,  and  finally  they  wound  the  cord 
at  random  many  times  around  the  Prussian's  body,  wherever 
his  contortions  would  allow  them  to  place  it,  with  such  an  af- 
fluence of  loops  and  knots  that  he  had  the  appearance  of  being 
enmeshed  in  a  gigantic  net.  To  his  unintermitting  outcries 
Ducat's  voice  responded  :  "  Shut  your  jaw  !  "  a«id  Cabasse 
silenced  him  more  effectually  by  gagging  him  with  an  old  blue 
handkerchief.  Then,  first  waiting  a  moment  to  get  their 
breath,  they  carried  him,  an  inert  mass,  to  the  kitchen  and  de- 
posited him  upon  the  big  table,  beside  the  candle. 

"  Ah,  the  Prussian  scum  !  "  exclaimed  Sambuc,  wiping  the 
sweat  from  his  forehead,  "  he  gave  us  trouble  enough  !  Say, 
Silvine,  light  another  candle,  will  you,  so  we  can  get  a  good 
view  of  the  d — d  pig  and  see  what  he  looks  like." 

Silvine  arose,  her  wide-dilated  eyes  shining  bright  from  out 
her  colorless  face.  She  spoke  no  word,  but  lit  another  candle 
and  came  and  placed  it  by  Goliah's  head  on  the  side  opposite 
the  other ;  he  produced  the  effect,  thus  brilliantly  illumin- 
ated, of  a  corpse  between  two  mortuary  tapers  And  in  that 
brief  moment  their  glances  met ;  his  was  the  wild,  agonized 


47 6  THE  DOWNFALL. 

look  of  the  supplicant  whom  his  fears  have  overmastered,  but 
she  affected  not  to  understand,  and  withdrew  to  the  sideboard, 
where  she  remained  standing  with  her  icy,  unyielding  air. 

"  The  beast  has  nearly  chewed  my  finger  off,"  growled 
Cabasse,  from  whose  hand  blood  was  trickling.  "  I'm  going  to 
spoil  his  ugly  mug  for  him." 

He  had  taken  the  revolver  from  the  floor  and  was  holding 
it  poised  by  the  barrel  in  readiness  to  strike,  when  Sambuc  dis- 
armed him. 

"  No,  no  !  none  of  that.  We  are  not  murderers,  we  francs- 
tireurs ;  we  are  judges.  Do  you  hear,  you  dirty  Prussian  ? 
we're  going  to  try  you  ;  and  you  need  have  no  fear,  your  rights 
shall  be  respected.  We  can't  let  you  speak  in  your  own  de- 
fense, for  if  we  should  unmuzzle  you  you  would  split  our  ears 
with  your  bellowing,  but  I'll  see  that  you  have  a  lawyer  pres- 
ently, and  a  famous  good  one,  too  !  " 

He  went  and  got  three  chairs  and  placed  them  in  a  row, 
forming  what  it  pleased  him  to  call  the  court,  he  sitting  in  the 
middle  with  one  of  his  followers  on  either  hand.  When  all 
three  were  seated  he  arose  and  commenced  to  speak,  at  first 
ironically  aping  the  gravity  of  the  magistrate,  but  soon  launch- 
ing into  a  tirade  of  blood-thirsty  invective. 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  be  at  the  same  time  President  of  the 
Court  and  Public  Prosecutor.  That,  I  am  aware,  is  not 
strictly  in  order,  but  there  are  not  enough  of  us  to  fill  all  the 
roles.  I  accuse  you,  therefore,  of  entering  France  to  play  the 
spy  on  us,  recompensing  us  for  our  hospitality  with  the  most 
abominable  treason.  It  is  to  you  to  whom  we  are  principally 
indebted  for  our  recent  disasters,  for  after  the  battle  of  Nou- 
art  you  guided  the  Bavarians  across  the  wood  of  Dieulet  by 
night  to  Beaumont.  No  one  but  a  man  who  had  lived  a  long 
time  in  the  country  and  was  acquainted  with  every  path  and 
crossroad  coilld  have  done  it,  and  on  this  point  the  conviction 
of  the  court  is  unalterable ;  you  were  seen  conducting  the  en- 
emy's artillery  over  roads  that  had  become  lakes  of  liquid  mud, 
where  eight  horses  had  to  be  hitched  to  a  single  gun  to  drag 
it  out  of  the  slough.  A  person  looking  at  those  roads  would 
hesitate  to  believe  that  an  army  corps  could  ever  have  passed 
over  them.  Had  it  not  been  for  you  and  your  criminal  action 
in  settling  among  us  and  betraying  us  the  surprise  of  Beaumont 
would  have  never  been,  we  should  not  have  been  compelled  to 
retreat  on  Sedan,  and  perhaps  in  the  end  we  might  have  come 
off  victorious.  I  will  say  nothing  of  the  disgusting  career  you 


THE  DOWNFALL.  477 

have  been  pursuing  since  then,  coming  here  in  disguise,  ter- 
rorizing and  denouncing  the  poor  country  people,  so  that  they 
tremble  at  the  mention  of  your  name.  You  have  descended  to 
a  depth  of  depravity  beyond  which  it  is  impossible  to  go,  and 
I  demand  from  the  court  sentence  of  death." 

Silence  prevailed  in  the  room.  He  had  resumed  his  seat, 
and  finally,  rising  again,  said  : 

"  I  assign  Ducat  to  you  as  counsel  for  the  defense.  He  has 
been  sheriff's  officer,  and  might  have  made  his  mark  had  it  not 
been  for  his  little  weakness.  You  see  that  I  deny  you  noth- 
ing ;  we  are  disposed  to  treat  you  well." 

Goliah,  who  could  not  stir  a  finger,  bent  his  eyes  on  his 
improvised  defender.  It  was  in  his  eyes  alone  that  evidence 
of  life  remained,  eyes  that  burned  intensely  with  ardent  sup- 
plication under  the  ashy  brow,  where  the  sweat  of  anguish 
stood  in  big  drops,,  notwithstanding  the  cold. 

Ducat  arose  and  commenced  his  plea.  "  Gentlemen,  my 
client,  to  tell  the  truth,  is  the  most  noisome  blackguard  that  I 
ever  came  across  in  my  life,  and  I  should  not  have  been  willing 
to  appear  in  his  defense  had  I  not  a  mitigating  circumstance 
to  plead,  to  wit :  they  are  all  that  way  in  the  country  he  came 
from.  Look  at  him  closely  ;  you  will  read  his  astonishment 
in  his  eyes  ;  he  does  not  understand  the  gravity  of  his  offense. 
Here  in  France  we  may  employ  spies,  but  no  one  would  touch 
one  of  them  unless  with  a  pair  of  pincers,  while  in  that  country 
espionage  is  considered  a  highly  honorable  career  and  an  ex- 
tremely meritorious  manner  of  serving  the  state.  I  will  even 
go  so  far  as  to  say,  gentlemen,  that  possibly  they  are  not 
wrong  ;  our  noble  sentiments  do  us  honor,  but  they  have  also 
the  disadvantage  of  bringing  us  defeat.  If  I  may  venture  to 
speak  in  the  language  of  Cicero  and  Virgil,  quos  vult  perdere 
Jupiter  dcmentat.  You  will  understand  the  allusion,  gentle- 
men." 

And  he  took  his  seat  again,  while  Sambuc  resumed  : 

"And  you,  Cabasse,  have  you  nothing  to  say  either  for  or 
against  the  defendant?" 

"  All  I  have  to  say,"  shouted  the  Proven9al,  "  is  that  we  are 
wasting  a  deal  of  breath  in  settling  that  scoundrel's  hash.  I've 
had  my  little  troubles  in  my  lifetime,  and  plenty  of  'em,  but  I 
don't  like  to  see  people  trifle  with  the  affairs  of  the  law  ;  it's 
unlucky.  Let  him  die,  I  say  !  " 

Sambuc  rose  to  his  feet  with  an  air  of  profound  gravity. 

"  This  you  both  declare  to  be  your  verdict,  then — death  ? " 


47 8  THE  DOWNFALL. 

"  Yes,  yes  !  death  !  " 

The  chairs  were  pushed  back,  he  advanced  to  the  table 
where  Goliah  lay,  saying.: 

"  You  have  been  tried  and  sentenced  ;  you  are  to  die." 

The  flame  of  the  two  candles  rose  about  their  unsnnffed 
wicks  &nd  flickered  in  the  draught,  casting  a  fitful,  ghastly 
light  on  Goliah's  distorted  features.  The  fierce  efforts  he 
made  to  scream  for  mercy,  to  vociferate  the  words  that  were 
strangling  him,  were  such  that  the  handkerchief  knotted  across 
his  mouth  was  drenched  with  spume,  and  it  was  a  sight  most 
horrible  to  see,  that  strong  man  reduced  to  silence,  voiceless 
already  as  a  corpse,  about  to  die  with  that  torrent  of  excuse 
and  entreaty  pent  in  his  bosom. 

Cabasse  cocked  the  revolver.  "  Shall  I  let  him  have  it  ?  " 
he  asked. 

"  No,  no  !  "  Sambuc  shouted  in  reply  ;  "  he  would  be  only 
too  glad."  And  turning  to  Goliah  :  "  You  are  not  a  soldier  ; 
you  are  not  worthy  of  the  honor  of  quitting  the  world  with  a 
bullet  in  your  head.  No,  you  shall  die  the  death  of  a  spy  and 
the  dirty  pig  that  you  are." 

He  looked  over  his  shoulder  and  politely  said  : 

"  Silvine,  if  it's  not  troubling  you  too  much,  I  would  like  to 
have  a  tub." 

During  the  whole  of  the  trial  scene  Silvine  had  not  moved  a 
muscle.  She  had  stood  in  an  attitude  of  waiting,  with  drawn, 
rigid  features,  as  if  mind  and  body  had  parted  company,  con- 
scious of  nothing  but  the  one  fixed  idea  that  had  possessed 
her  for  the  last  two  days.  And  when  she  was  asked  for  a  tub 
she  received  the  request  as  a  matter  of  course  and  proceeded 
at  once  to  comply  with  it,  disappearing  into  the  adjoining 
shed,  whence  she  returned  with  the  big  tub  in  which  she 
washed  Chariot's  linen. 

"  Hold  on  a  minute  !  place  it  under  the  table,  close  to  the 
edge." 

She  placed  the  vessel  as  directed,  and  as  she  rose  to  her 
feet  her  eyes  again  encountered  Goliah's.  In  the  look  of  the 
poor  wretch  was  a  supreme  prayer  for  mercy,  the  revolt  of  the 
man  who  cannot  bear  the  thought  of  being  stricken  down  in 
the  pride  of  his  strength.  But  in  that  moment  there  was  noth- 
ing of  the  woman  left  in  her  ;  nothing  but  the  fierce  desire  for 
that  death  for  which  she  had  been  waiting  as  a  deliverance. 
She  retreated  again  to  the  buffet,  where  she  remained  standing 
in  silent  expectation. 


THE  DOWNFALL.  479 

Sambuc  opened  the  drawer  of  the  table  and  took  from  it  a 
large  kitchen  knife,  the  one  that  the  household  employed  to 
slice  their  bacon. 

"  So,  then,  as  you  are  a  pig,  I  am  going  to  stick  you  like  a 

He  proceeded  in  a  very  leisurely  manner,  discussing  with 
Cabasse  and  Ducat  the  proper  method  of  conducting  the 
operation.  They  even  came  near  quarreling,  because 
Cabasse  alleged  that  in  Provence,  the  country  he  came  from, 
they  hung  pigs  up  by  the  heels  to  stick  them,  at  which  Ducat 
expressed  great  indignation,  declaring  that  the  method  was  a 
barbarous  and  inconvenient  one. 

"  Bring  him  well  forward  to  the  edge  of  the  table,  his  head 
over  the  tub,  so  as  to  avoid  soiling  the  floor." 

They  drew  him  forward,  and  Sambuc  went  about  his  task 
in  a  tranquil,  decent  manner.  With  a  single  stroke  of  the 
keen  knife  he  slit  the  throat  crosswise  from  ear  to  ear,  and 
immediately  the  blood  from  the  severed  carotid  artery  com- 
menced to  drip,  drip  into  the  tub  with  the  gentle  plashing  of  a 
fountain.  He  had  taken  care  not  to  make  the  incision  too 
deep  ;  only  a  few  drops  spirted  from  the  wound,  impelled  by 
the  action  of  the  heart.  Death  was  the  slower  in  coming  for 
that,  but  no  convulsion  was  to  be  seen,  for  the  cords  were 
strong  and  the  body  was  utterly  incapable  of  motion.  There 
was  no  death-rattle,  not  a  quiver  of  the  frame.  On  the  face 
alone  was  evidence  of  the  supreme  agony,  on  that  terror-dis- 
torted mask  whence  the  blood  retreated  drop  by  drop,  leav- 
ing the  skin  colorless,  with  a  whiteness  like  that  of  linen. 
The  expression  faded  from  the  eyes  ;  they  became  dim,  the 
light  died  from  out  them. 

"  Say,  Silvine,  we  shall  want  a  sponge,  too." 

She  made  no  reply,  standing  riveted  to  the  floor  in  an  atti- 
tude of  unconsciousness,  her  arms  folded  tightly  across  her 
bosom,  her  throat  constricted  as  by  the  clutch  of  a  mailed 
hand,  gazing  on  the  horrible  spectacle.  Then  all  at  once  she 
perceived  that  Chariot  was  there,  grasping  her  skirts  with  his 
little  hands  ;  he  must  have  awaked  and  managed  to  open  the 
intervening  doors,  and  no  one  had  seen  him  come  stealing  in, 
childlike,  curious  to  know  what  was  going  on.  How  long  had 
he  been  there,  half-concealed  behind  his  mother?  From  be- 
neath his  shock  of  yellow  hair  his  big  blue  eyes  were  fixed  on 
the  trickling  blood,  the  thin  red  stream  that  little  by  little  was 
filling  the  tub.  Perhaps  he  had  not  understood  at  first  and 


THE  DOWNFALL. 

had  found  something  diverting  in  the  sight,  but  suddenly  he 
seemed  to  become  instinctively  aware  of  all  the  abomination 
of  the  thing  ;  he  gave  utterance  to  a  sharp,  startled 
cry  : 

"  Oh,  mammy  !  oh,  mammy  !     I'm  'fraid,  take  me  away  !  " 

It  gave  Silvine  a  shock,  so  violent  that  it  convulsed  her  in 
every  fiber  of  her  being.  It  was  the  last  straw  ;  something 
seemed  to  give  way  in  her,  the  excitement  that  had  sustained 
her  for  the  last  two  days  while  under  the  domination  of  her 
one  fixed  idea  gave  way  to  horror.  It  was  the  resurrection  of 
the  dormant  woman  in  her  ;  she  burst  into  tears,  and  with  a 
frenzied  movement  caught  Chariot  up  and  pressed  him  wildly 
to  her  heart.  And  she  fled  with  him,  running  with  distracted 
terror,  unable  to  see  or  hear  more,  conscious  of  but  one  over- 
mastering need,  to  find  some  secret  spot,  it  mattered  not  where, 
in  which  she  might  cast  herself  upon  the  ground  and  seek 
oblivion. 

It  was  at  this  crisis  that  Jean  rose  from  his  bed  and,  softly 
opening  his  door,  looked  out  into  the  passage.  Although  he 
generally  gave  but  small  attention  to  the  various  noises  that 
reached  him  from  the  farmhouse,  the  unusual  activity  that 
prevailed  this  evening,  the  trampling  of  feet,  the  shouts  and 
cries,  in  the  end  excited  his  curiosity.  And  it  was  to  the 
retirement  of  his  sequestered  chamber  that  Silvine,  sobbing 
and  disheveled,  came  for  shelter,  her  form  convulsed  by 
such  a  storm  of  anguish  that  at  first  he  could  not  grasp  the 
meaning  of  the  rambling,  inarticulate  words  that  fell  from  her 
blanched  lips.  She  kept  constantly  repeating  the  same  terri- 
fied gesture,  as  if  to  thrust  from  before  her  eyes  some  hideous, 
haunting  vision.  At  last  he  understood,  the  entire  abominable 
scene  was  pictured  clearly  to  his  mind  :  the  traitorous  ambush, 
the  slaughter,  the  mother,  her  little  one  clinging  to  her  skirts, 
watching  unmoved  the  murdered  father,  whose  life-blood  was 
slowly  ebbing  ;  and  it  froze  his  marrow — the  peasant  and  the 
soldier  was  sick  at  heart  with  anguished  horror.  Ah,  hateful, 
cruel  war  !  that  changed  all  those  poor  folks  to  ravening 
wolves,  bespattering  the  child  with  the  father's  blood  !  An 
accursed  sowing,  to  end  in  a  harvest  of  blood  and  tears  ! 

Resting  on  the  chair  where  she  had  fallen,  covering  with 
frantic  kisses  little  Chariot,  who  clung,  sobbing,  to  her  bosom, 
Silvine  repeated  again  and  again  the  one  unvarying  phrase, 
the  cry  of  her  bleeding  heart. 

"  Ah,  my  poor  child,  they  will  no  more  say  you  are  a  Prus- 


THE  DOWNFALL.  48* 

sian  !  Ah,  my  poor  child,  they  will  no  more  say  you  are  a 
Prussian  !  " 

Meantime  Father  Fouchard  had  returned  and  was  in  the 
kitchen.  He  ^had  come  hammering  at  the  door  with  the 
authority  of  the  master,  and  there  was  nothing  left  to  do  but 
open  to  him.  The  surprise  he  experienced  was  not  exactly  an 
agreeable  one  on  beholding  the  dead  man  outstretched  on  his 
table  and  the  blood-filled  tub  beneath.  It  followed  naturally, 
his  disposition  not  being  of  the  mildest,  that  he  was  very 
angry. 

"  You  pack  of  rascally  slovens  !  say,  couldn't  you  have  gone 
outdoors  to  do  your  dirty  work  ?  Do  you  take  my  place  for  a 
shambles,  eh  ?  coming  here  and  ruining  the  furniture  with 
such  goings-on  ? "  Then,  as  Sambuc  endeavored  to  mollify 
him  and  explain  matters,  the  old  fellow  went  on  with  a  violence 
that  was  enhanced  by  his  fears  :  "  And  what  do  you  suppose 
I  am  to  do  with  the  carcass,  pray  ?  Do  you  consider  it  a 
gentlemanly  thing  to  do,  to  come  to  a  man's  house  like  this 
and  foist  a  stiff  off  on  him  without  so  much  as  saying  by  your 
leave  ?  Suppose  a  patrol  should  come  along,  what  a  nice  fix  I 
should  be  in  !  but  precious  little  you  fellows  care  whether  I 
get  my  neck  stretched  or  not.  Now  listen  :  do  you  take 
that  body  at  once  and  carry  it  away  from  here  ;  if  you  don't, 
by  G — d,  you  and  I  will  have  a  settlement  !  You  hear  me  ; 
take  it  by  the  head,  take  it  by  the  heels,  take  it  any  way  you 
please,  but  get  it  out  of  here  and  don't  let  there  be  a  hair  of 
it  remaining  in  this  room  at  the  end  of  three  minutes  from 
now  !  " 

In  the  end  Sambuc  prevailed  on  Father  Fouchard  to  let 
him  have  a  sack,  although  it  wrung  the  old  miser's  heart- 
strings to  part  with  it.  He  selected  one  that  was  full  of  holes, 
remarking  that  anything  was  good  enough  for  a  Prussian. 
Cabasse  and  Ducat  had  all  the  "trouble  in  the  world  to  get 
Goliah  into  it  ;  it  was  too  short  and  too  narrow  for  the  long, 
broad  body,  and  the  feet  protruded  at  its  mouth.  Then  they 
carried  their  burden  outside  and  placed  it  on  the  wheelbarrow 
that  had  served  to  convey  to  them  their  bread. 

"  You'll  not  be  troubled  with  him  any  more,  I  give  you  my 
word  of  honor  !  "  declared  Sambuc.  "  We'll  go  and  toss  him 
into  the  Meuse." 

"  Be  sure  and  fasten  a  couple  of  big  stones  to  his  feet," 
recommended  Fouchard,  "so  the  lubber  shan't  come  up 
again/' 


4§ 2  THE  DOWNFALL. 

And  the  little  procession,  dimly  outlined  against  the  white 
waste  of  snow,  started  and  soon  was  buried  in  the  blackness 
of  the  night,  giving  no  sound  save  the  faint,  plaintive  creaking 
of  the  barrow. 

In  after  days  Sambuc  swore  by  all  that  was  good  and  holy 
he  had  obeyed  the  old  man's  directions,  but  none  the  less  the 
corpse  came  to  the  surface  and  was  discovered  two  days  after- 
ward by  the  Prussians  among  the  weeds  at  Pont-Maugis,  and 
when  they  saw  the  manner  of  their  countryman's  murder,  his 
throat  slit  like  a  pig,  their  wrath  and  fury  knew  no  bounds. 
Their  threats  were  terrible,  and  were  accompanied  by  domi- 
ciliary visits  and  annoyances  of  every  kind,  Some  of  the  vil- 
lagers must  have  blabbed,  for!!  there  came  a  party  one  night 
and  arrested  Father  Fouchard  and  the  Mayor  of  Remilly  on 
the  charge  of  giving  aid  and  comfort  to  thefrancs-tireurs,  who 
were  manifestly  the  perpetrators  of  the  crime.  And  Father 
Fouchard  really  came  out  very  strong  under  those  untoward 
circumstances,  exhibiting  all  the  impassibility  of  a  shrewd  old 
peasant,  who  knew  the  value  of  silence  and  a  tranquil  demeanor. 
He  went  with  his  captors  without  the  least  sign  of  perturbation, 
without  even  asking  them  for  an  explanation.  The  truth 
would  come  out.  In  the  country  round  about  it  was  whispered 
that  he  had  already  made  an  enormous  fortune  from  the 
Prussians,  sacks  and  sacks  of  gold  pieces,  that  he  buried  away 
somewhere,  one  by  one,  as  he  received  them. 

All  these  stories  were  a  terrible  source  of  alarm  to  Henri- 
ette  when  she  came  to  hear  of  them.  Jean,  fearing  he  might 
endanger  the  safety  of  his  hosts,  was  again  eager  to  get  away, 
although  the  doctor  declared  he  was  still  too  weak,  and  she, 
saddened  by  the  prospect  of  their  approaching  separation,  in- 
sisted on  his  delaying  his  departure  for  two  weeks.  At  the 
time  of  Father  Fouchard's  arrest  Jean  had  escaped  a  like  fate 
by  hiding  in  the  barn,  but  he  was  liable  to  be  taken  and  led 
away  captive  at  any  moment  should  there  be  further  searches 
made.  She  was  also  anxious  as  to  her  uncle's  fate,  and  so 
she  resolved  one  morning  to  go  to  Sedan  and  see  the  Dela- 
herches,  who  had,  it  was  said,  a  Prussian  officer  of  great  in- 
fluence quartered  in  their  house. 

"  Silvine,"  she  said,  as  she  was  about  to  start,  "  take  good 
care  of  our  patient ;  see  he  has  his  bouillon  at  noon  and  his 
medicine  at  four  o'clock." 

The  maid  of  all  work,  ever  busy  with  her  daily  recurring 
tasks,  was  again  the  submissive  and  courageous  woman  she 


THE  DOWNFALL.  483 

had  been  of  old  ;  she  had  the  care  of  the  farm  now,  moreover, 
in  the  absence  of  the  master,  while  little  Chariot  was  con- 
stantly at  her  heels,  frisking  and  gamboling  around  her. 

"  Have  no  fear,  madame,  he  shall  want  for  nothing.     I  am 
here  and  will  look  out  for  him." 


VI. 

LIFE  had  fallen  back  into  something  like  its  accustomed 
routine  with  the  Delaherches  at  their  house  in  the  Rue 
Maqua  after  the  terrible  shock  of  the  capitulation,  and  for 
nearly  four  months  the  long  days  had  been  slowly  slipping  by 
under  the  depressing  influence  of  the  Prussian  occupation. 

There  was  one  corner,  however,  of  the  immense  structure 
that  was  always  closed,  as  if  it  had  no  occupant  :  it  was  the 
chamber  that  Colonel  de  Vineuil  still  continued  to  inhabit,  at 
the  extreme  end  of  the  suite  where  the  master  and  his  family 
spent  their  daily  life.  While  the  other  windows  were  thrown 
open,  affording  evidence  by  sight  and  sound  of  the  activity 
that  prevailed  within,  those  of  that  room  were  dark  and  life- 
less, their  blinds  invariably  drawn.  The  colonel  had  com- 
plained that  the  daylight  hurt  his  eyes  ;  no  one  knew  whether 
or  not  this  was  strictly  true,  but  a  lamp  was  kept  burning  at 
his  bedside  day  and  night  to  humor  him  in  his  fancy.  For 
two  long  months  he  had  kept  his  bed,  although  Major 
Bouroche  asserted  there  was  nothing  more  serious  than  a  con- 
tusion of  the  ankle  and  a  fragment  of  bone  chipped  away  ; 
the  wound  refused  to  heal  and  complications  of  various  kinds 
had  ensued.  He  was  able  to  get  up  now,  but  was  in  such  a 
state  of  utter  mental  prostration,  his  mysterious  ailment  had 
taken  such  firm  hold  upon  his  system,  that  he  was  content  to 
spend  his  days  in  .idleness,  stretched  on  a  lounge  before  a 
great  wood  fire.  He  had  wasted  away  until  he  was  little 
more  than  a  shadow,  and  still  the  physician  who  was  attend- 
ing him  could  find  no  lesion  to  account  for  that  lingering 
death.  He  was  slowly  fading  away,  like  the  flame  of  a  lamp 
in  which  the  supply  of  oil  is  giving  out. 

Mme.  Delaherche,  the  mother,  had  immured  herself 
there  with  him  on  the  day  succeeding  the  occupation.  No 
doubt  they  understood  each  other,  and  had  expressed  in  two 
words,  once  for  all,  their  common  purpose  to  seclude  them- 
selves in  that  apartment  so  long  as  there  should  be  Prussians 


484  THE  DOWNFALL. 

quartered  in  the  house.  They  had  afforded  compulsory  hos- 
pitality to  many  of  the  enemy  for  various  lengths  of  time  ; 
one,  a  Captain,  M.  Gartlauben,  was  there  still,  had  taken  up 
his  abode  with  them  permanently.  But  never  since  that  first 
day  had  mention  of  those  things  passed  the  colonel's  and  the 
old  lady's  lips.  Notwithstanding  her  seventy-eight  years  she 
was  up  every  morning  soon  as  it  was  day  and  came  and  took 
her  position  in  the  fauteuil  that  was  awaiting  her  in  the  chim- 
ney nook  opposite  her  old  friend.  There,  by  the  steady,  tran- 
quil lamplight,  she  applied  herself  industriously  to  knitting 
socks  for  the  children  of  the  poor,  while  he,  his  eyes  fixed  on  the 
crumbling  brands,  with  no  occupation  for  body  or  mind,  was 
as  one  already  dead,  in  a  state  of  constantly  increasing  stupor. 
They  certainly  did  not  exchange  twenty  words  in  the  course 
of  a  day  ;  whenever  she,  who  still  continued  to  go  about  the 
house  at  intervals,  involuntarily  allowed  some  bit  of  news 
from  the  outer  world  to  escape  her  lips,  he  silenced  her  with 
a  gesture,  so  that  no  tidings  of  the  siege  of  Paris,  the  disasters 
on  the  Loire  and  all  the  daily  renewed  horrors  of  the  invasion 
had  gained  admission  there^  But  the  colonel  might  stop  his 
ears  and  shut  out  the  light  of  day  as  he  would  in  his  self- 
appointed  tomb  ;  the  air  he  breathed  must  have  brought  him 
through  key-hole  and  crevices  intelligence  of  the  calamity  that 
was  everywhere  throughout  the  land,  for  every  new  day  be- 
held him  sinking,  slowly  dying,  despite  his  determination  not 
to  know  the  evil  news. 

While  matters  were  in  this  condition  at  one  end  of  the  house 
Delaherche,  who  was  never  contented  unless  occupied,  was 
bustling  about  and  making  attempts  to  start  up  his  business 
once  more,  but  what  with  the  disordered  condition  of  the 
labor  market  and  the  pecuniary  embarrassment  of  many 
among  his  customers,  he  had  so  far  only  put  a  few  looms  in 
motion.  Then  it  occurred  to  him,  as  a  means  of  killing  the 
time  that  hung  heavy  on  his  hands,  to  make  a  complete  in- 
ventory of  his  business  and  perfect  certain  changes  and  im- 
provements that  he  had  long  had  in  mind.  To  assist  him  in 
his  labors  he  had  just  then  at  his  disposal  a  young  man,  the 
son  of  an  old  business  acquaintance,  who  had  drifted  in  on 
him  after  the  battle.  Edmond  Lagarde,  who,  although  he 
was  twenty-three  years  old,  would  not  have  been  taken  for 
more  than  eighteen,  had  grown  to  man's  estate  in  his  father's 
little  dry-goods  shop  at  Passy  ;  he  was  a  sergeant  in  the  5th 
line  regiment  and  had  fought  with  great  bravery  throughout 


THE  DOWNFALL.  485 

the  campaign,  so  much  so  that  he  had  been  knocked  over  near  _ 
the  Minil  gate  about  five  o'clock,  when  the  battle  was  virtua]yes 
ended,  his  left  arm  shattered  by  one  of  the  last  shots  fired  tp)jne 
day,  and  Delaherche,  when  the  other  wounded  were  remo\an(j 
from  the  improvised  ambulance  in  the  drying  room,  had  goocus 
naturedly  received   him  as  an  inmate  of  his   house.     It  was 
under  these  circumstances  that   Edmond  was  now  one  of  the 
family,  having  an  apartment  in  the  house  and  taking  his  meals 
at  the  common  table,  and,  now  that  his  wound  was  healed, 
acting  as  a  sort  of  secretary  to  the  manufacturer  while  wait- 
ing for  a  chance  to  get  back  to  Paris.     He  had  signed  a  parole 
binding  himself  not  to  attempt  to  leave  the  city,  and  owing  to 
this  and  to  his  protector's  influence  the  Prussian  authorities 
did  not  interfere  with  him.     He  was  fair,  with  blue  eyes,  and 
pretty  as  a  woman  ;  so  timid  withal  that  his  face  assumed  a 
beautiful  hue  of  rosy  red  whenever  anyone  spoke  to  him.     He 
had  been  his  mother's  darling  ;  she  had  impoverished  herself, 
expending  all  the  profits  of  their  little  business  to  send  him  to 
college.     And  he  adored  Paris  and  bewailed  his  compulsory 
absence  from  it  when  talking  to  Gilberte,  did  this  wounded 
cherub,  whom  the  young  woman  had  displayed  great  good- 
fellowship  in  nursing. 

Finally,  their  household  had  received  another  addition  in 
the  person  of  M.  de  Gartlauben,  a  captain  in  the  German 
landwehr,  whose  regiment  had  been  sent  to  Sedan  to  supply 
the  place  of  troops  dispatched  to  service  in  the  field.  He  was 
a  personage  of  importance,  notwithstanding  his  comparatively 
modest  rank,  for  he  was  nephew  to  the  governor-general, 
who,  from  his  headquarters  at  Rheims,  exercised  unlimited 
power  overall  the  district.  He,  too,  prided  himself  on  having 
lived  at  Paris,  and  seized  every  occasion  ostentatiously  to 
show  he  was  not  ignorant  of  its  pleasures  and  refinements  ; 
concealing  beneath  this  film  of  varnish  his  inborn  rusticity,  he 
assumed  as  well  as  he  was  able  the  polish  of  one  accustomed 
to  good  society.  His  tall,  portly  form  was  always  tightly 
buttoned  in  a  close-fitting  uniform,  and  he  lied  outrageously 
about  his  age,  never  being  able  to  bring  himself  to  own  up  to 
his  forty-five  years.  Had  he  had  more  intelligence  he  might 
have  made  himself  an  object  of  greater  dread,  but  as  it  was 
his  over-weening  vanity  kept  him  in  a  continual  state  of  satis- 
faction with  himself,  for  never  could  such  a  thing  have  entered 
his  mind  as  that  anyone  could  dare  to  ridicule  him. 

At  a  subsequent  period  he  rendered   Delaherche  services 


486  THE  DOWNFALL. 

%at  were  of  inestimable  value.  But  what  days  of  terror  and 
"  ress  were  those  that  followed  upon  the  heels  of  the  capitu- 
>^!  the  city,  overrun  with  German  soldiery,  trembled  in 
?ientary  dread  of  pillage  and  conflagration.  Then  the 
.mies  of  the  victors  streamed  away  toward  the  valley  of  the 
'Seine,  leaving  behind  them  only  sufficient  men  to  form  a  garri- 
son, and  the  quiet  that  settled  upon  the  place  was  that  of  a 
necropolis  :  the  houses  all  closed,  the  shops  shut,  the  streets 
deserted  as  soon  as  night  closed  in,  the  silence  unbroken  save 
for  the  hoarse  cries  and  heavy  tramp  of  the  patrols.  No  letters 
or  newspapers  reached  them  from  the  outside  world  ;  Sedan 
was  become  a,  dungeon,  where  the  immured  citizens  waited  in 
agonized  suspense  for  the  tidings  of  disaster  with  which  the 
air  was  instinct.  To  render  their  misery  complete  they  were 
threatened  with  famine  ;  the  city  awoke  one  morning  from  its 
slumbers  to  find  itself  destitute  of  bread  and  meat  and  the 
country  round  about  stripped  naked,  as  if  a  devouring  swarm 
of  locusts  had  passed  that  way,  by  the  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  men  who  for  a  week  past. had  been  pouring  along  its  roads 
and  across  its  fields  in  a  devastating  torrent.  There  were 
provisions  only  for  two  days,  and  the  authorities  were  com- 
pelled to  apply  to  Belgium  for  relief  ;  all  supplies  now  came 
from  their  neighbors  across  the  frontier,  whence  the  customs 
guards  had  disappeared,  swept  away  like  all  else  in  the  general 
cataclysm.  Finally  there  were  never-ending  vexations  and 
annoyances,  a  conflict  that  commenced  to  rage  afresh  each 
morning  between  the  Prussian  governor  and  his  underlings, 
quartered  at  the  Sous-Prefecture,  and  the  Municipal  Council, 
which  was  in  permanent  session  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  It  was 
all  in  vain  that  the  city  fathers  fought  like  heroes,  discussing, 
objecting,  protesting,  contesting  the  ground  inch  by  inch  ; 
the  inhabitants  had  to  succumb  to  the  exactions  that  constantly 
became  more  burdensome,  to  the  whims  and  unreasonableness 
of  the  stronger. 

In  the  beginning  Delaherche  suffered  great  tribulation  from 
the  officers  and  soldiers  who  were  billeted  on  him.  It  seemed 
as  if  representatives  from  every  nationality  on  the  face  of  the 
globe  presented  themselves  at  his  door,  pipe  in  mouth.  Not 
a  day  passed  but  there  came  tumbling  in  upon  the  city  two  or 
three  thousand  men,  horse,  foot  and  dragoons,  and  although 
they  were  by  rights  entitled  to  nothing  more  than  shelter  and 
firing,  it  was  often  found  expedient  to  send  out  in  haste  and 
get  them  provisions.  The  rooms  they  occupied  were  left  in  a 


THE  DOWNFALL.  487 

shockingly  filthy  condition.  It  was  not  an  infrequent  occur- 
rence that  the  officers  came  in  drunk  and  made  themselves 
even  more  obnoxious  than  their  men.  Such  strict  discipline 
was  maintained,  however,  that  instances  of  violence  and 
marauding  were  rare  ;  in  all  Sedan  there  were  but  two  cases 
reported  of  outrages  committed  on  women.  It  was  not  until 
a  later  period,  when  Paris  displayed  such  stubbornness  in  her 
resistance,  that,  exasperated  by  the  length  to  which  the  strug- 
gle was  protracted,  alarmed  by  the  attitude  of  the  provinces 
and  fearing  a  general  rising  of  the  populace,  the  savage  war 
which  mthe  francs-tireurs  had  inaugurated,  they  laid  the  full 
weight  of  their  heavy  hand  upon  the  suffering  people. 

Delaherche  had  just  had  an  experience  with  a  lodger  who 
had  been  quartered  on  him,  a  captain  of  cuirassiers,  who  made 
a  practice  of  going  to  bed  with  his  boots  on  and  when  he  went 
away  left  his  apartment  in  an  unmentionably  filthy  condition, 
when  in  the  last  half  of  September  Captain  de  Gartlauben 
came  to  his  door  one  evening  when  it  was  raining  in  torrents. 
The  first  hour  he  was  there  did  not  promise  well  for  the 
pleasantness  of  their  future  relations  ;  he  carried  matters  with 
a  high  hand,  insisting  that  he  should  be  given  the  best  bed- 
room, trailing  the  scabbard  of  his  sword  noisily  up  the  marble 
staircase  ;  but  encountering  Gilberte  in  the  corridor  he  drew 
in  his  horns,  bowed  politely,  and  passed  stiffly  on.  He  was 
courted  with  great  obsequiousness,  for  everyone  was  well 
aware  that  a  word  from  him  to  the  colonel  commanding  the 
post  of  Sedan  would  suffice  to  mitigate  a  requisition  or  secure 
the  release  of  a  friend  or  relative.  It  was  not  very  long  since 
his  uncle,  the  governor-general  at  Rheims,  had  promulgated  a 
particularly  detestable  and  cold-blooded  order,  proclaiming 
martial  law  and  decreeing  the  penalty  of  death  to  whomso- 
ever should  give  aid  and  comfort  to  the  enemy,  whether  by 
acting  for  them  as  a  spy,  by  leading  astray  German  troops 
that  had  been  entrusted  to  their  guidance,  by  destroying 
bridges  and  artillery,  or  by  damaging  the  railroads  and  tele- 
graph lines.  The  enemy  meant  the  French,  of  course,  and 
the  citizens  scowled  and  involuntarily  doubled  their  fists  as 
they  read  the  great  white  placard  nailed  against  the  door  of 
post  headquarters  which  attributed  to  them  as  a  crime  their 
best  and  most  sacred  aspirations.  It  was  so  hard,  too,  to  have 
to  receive  their  intelligence  of  German  victories  through  the 
cheering  of  the  garrison  !  Hardly  a  day  passed  over  their 
heads  that  they  were  spared  this  bitter  humiliation  ;  the 


488  THE  DOWNFALL. 

soldiers  would  light  great  fires  and  sit  around  them,  feasting 
and  drinking  all  night  long,  while  the  townspeople,  who  were 
not  allowed  to  be  in  the  streets  after  nine  o'clock,  listened  to  the 
tumult  from  the  depths  of  their  darkened  houses,  crazed  with 
suspense,  wondering  what  new  catastrophe  had  befallen.  It 
was  on  one  of  these  occasions,  somewhere  about  the  middle 
of  October,  that  M.  de  Gartlauben  for  the  first  time  proved 
himself  to  be  possessed  of  some  delicacy  of  feeling.  Sedan 
had  been  jubilant  all  that  day  with  renewed  hopes,  for  there 
was  a  rumor  that  the  army  of  the  Loire,  then  marching  to  the 
relief  of  Paris,  had  gained  a  great  victory  ;  but  how  many 
times  before  had  the  best  of  news  been  converted  into  tidings 
of  disaster  !  and  sure  enough,  early  in  the  evening  it  became 
known  for  certain  that  the  Bavarians  had  taken  Orleans. 
Some  soldiers  had  collected  in  a  house  across  the  way  from 
the  factory  in  the  Rue  Maqua,  and  were  so  boisterous  in  their 
rejoicings  that  the  Captain,  noticing  Gilberte's  annoyance, 
went  and  silenced  them,  remarking  that  he  himself  thought 
their  uproar  ill-timed. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  month  M.  de  Gartlauben  was  in 
position  to  render  some  further  trifling  services.  The  Prussian 
authorities,  in  the  course  of  sundry  administrative  reforms  in- 
augurated by  them,  had  appointed  a  German  Sous-Prefect,  and 
although  this  step  did  not  put  an  end  to  the  exactions  to  which 
the  city  was  subjected,  the  new  official  showed  himself  to  be 
comparatively  reasonable.  One  of  the  most  frequent  among 
the  causes  of  difference  that  were  constantly  springing  up  be- 
tween the  officers  of  the  post  and  the  municipal  council  was 
that  which  arose  from  the  custom  of  requisitioning  carriages 
for  the  use  of  the  staff,  and  there  was  a  great  hullaballoo  raised 
one  morning  that  Delaherche  failed  to  send  his  caleche  and 
pair  to  the  Sous-Prefecture  :  the  mayor  was  arrested  and  the 
manufacturer  would  have  gone  to  keep  him  company  up  in 
the  citadel  had  it  not  been  for  M.  de  Gartlauben,  who  promptly 
quelled  the  rising  storm.  Another  day  he  secured  a  stay  of 
proceedings  for  the  city,  which  had  been  mulcted  in  the  sum 
of  thirty  thousand  francs  to  punish  it  for  its  alleged  dilatori- 
ness  in  rebuilding  the  bridge  of  Villette,  a  bridge  that  the 
Prussians  themselves  had  destroyed  :  a  disastrous  piece  of 
business  that  was  near  being  the  ruin  of  Sedan.  It  was  after 
the  surrender  at  Metz,  however,  that  Delaherche  contracted 
his  main  debt  of  gratitude  to  his  guest.  The  terrible  news 
burst  on  the  citizens  like  a  thunderclap,  dashing  to  the  ground 


THE  DOWNFALL.  489 

all  their  remaining  hopes,  and  early  in  the  ensuing  week  the 
streets  again  began  to  be  encumbered  with  the  countless  hosts 
of  the  German  forces,  streaming  down  from  the  conquered 
fortress  :  the  army  of  Prince  Frederick  Charles  moving  on  the 
Loire,  that  of  General  Manteuffel,  whose  destination  was 
Amiens  and  Rouen,  and  other  corps  on  the  march  to  reinforce 
the  besiegers  before  Paris.  For  several  days  the  houses  were 
full  to  overflowing  with  soldiers,  the  butchers'  and  bakers' 
shops  were  swept  clean,  to  the  last  bone,  to  the  last  crumb;  the 
streets  were  pervaded  by  a  greasy,  tallowy  odor,  as  after  the 
passage  of  the  great  migratory  bands  of  olden  times.  The 
buildings  in  the  Rue  Maqua,  protected  by  a  friendly  influence, 
escaped  the  devastating  irruption,  and  were  only  called  on  to 
give  shelter  to  a  few  of  the  leaders,  men  of  education  and  re- 
finement. 

Owing  to  these  circumstances,  Delaherche  at  last  began  to 
lay  aside  his  frostiness  of  manner.  As  a  general  thing  the 
bourgeois  families  shut  themselves  in  their  apartments  and 
avoided  all  communication  with  the  officers  who  were  billeted 
on  them;  but  to  him,  who  was  of  a  sociable  nature  and  liked 
to  extract  from  life  what  enjoyment  it  had  to  offer,  this  en- 
forced sulkiness  in  the  end  became  unbearable.  His  great, 
silent  house,  where  the  inmates  lived  apart  from  one  another 
in  a  chill  atmosphere  of  distrust  and  mutual  dislike,  damped 
his  spirits  terribly.  He  began  by  stopping  M.  de  Gartlauben 
on  the  stairs  one  day  to  thank  him  for  his  favors,  and  thus  by 
degrees  it  became  a  regular  habit  with  the  two  men  to  ex- 
change a  few  words  when  they  met.  The  result  was  that  one 
evening  the  Prussian  captain  found  himself  seated  in  his  host's 
study  before  the  fireplace  where  some  great  oak  logs  were  blaz- 
ing, smoking  a  cigar  and  amicably  discussing  the  news  of  the 
day.  For  the  first  two  weeks  of  their  new  intimacy  Gilberte 
did  not  make  her  appearance  in  the  room  ;  he  affected  to  ig- 
nore her  existence,  although,  at  every  faintest  sound,  his  glance 
would  be  directed  expectantly  upon  the  door  of  the  connect- 
ing apartment.  It  seemed  to  be  his  object  to  keep  his  posi- 
tion as  an  enemy  as  much  as  possible  in  the  background,  try- 
ing to  show  he  was  not  narrow-minded  or  a  bigoted  patriot, 
laughing  and  joking  pleasantly  over  certain  rather  ridiculous 
requisitions.  For  example,  a  demand  was  made  one  day  for 
a  coffin  and  a  shroud  ;  that  shroud  and  coffin  afforded  him  no 
end  of  amusement.  As  regarded  other  things,  such  as  coal, 
oil,  milk,  sugar,  butter,  bread,  meat,  to  say  nothing  of  clothing. 


49°  THE  DOWNFALL. 

stoves  and  lamps — all  the  necessaries  of  daily  life,  in  a  word — 
he  shrugged  his  shoulders  :  man  Dieu  !  what  would  you  have  ? 
No  doubt  it  was  vexatious  ;  he  was  even  willing  to  admit  that 
their  demands  were  excessive,  but  that  was  how  it  was  in  war 
times  ;  they  had  to  keep  themselves  alive  in  the  enemy's  coun- 
try. Delaherche,  who  was  very  sore  over  these  incessant  req- 
uisitions, expressed  his  opinion  of  them  with  frankness,  pull- 
ing them  to  pieces  mercilessly  at  their  nightly  confabs,  in  much 
the  same  way  as  he  might  have  criticised  the  cook's  kitchen 
accounts.  On  only  one  occasion  did  their  discussion  become  at 
all  acrimonious,  and  that  was  in  relation  to  the  impost  of  a 
million  francs  that  the  Prussian  prefet  at  Rethel  had  levied  on 
the  department  of  the  Ardennes,  the  alleged  pretense  of  which 
was  to  indemnify  Germany  for  damages  caused  by  French  ships 
of  war  and  by  the  expulsion  of  Germans  domiciled  in  French 
territory.  Sedan's  proportionate  share  of  the  assessment 
was  forty-two  thousand  francs.  And  he  labored  strenuously 
with  his  visitor  to  convince  him  of  the  iniquity  of  the  imposi- 
tion ;  the  city  was  differently  circumstanced  from  the  other 
towns,  it  had  had  more  than  its  share  of  affliction,  and  should 
not  be  burdened  with  that  new  exaction.  The  pair  always 
came  out  of  their  discussions  better  friends  than  when  they 
went  in;  one  delighted  to  have  had  an  opportunity  of  hearing 
himself  talk,  the  other  pleased  with  himself  for  having  displayed 
a  truly  Parisian  urbanity. 

One  evening  Gilberte  came  into  the  room,  with  her  air  of 
thoughtless  gayety.  She  paused  at  the  threshold,  affecting 
embarrassment.  M.  de  Gartlauben  rose,  and  with  much  tact 
presently  withdrew,  but  on  repeating  his  visit  the  following 
evening  and  finding  Gilberte  there  again,  he  settled  himself  in 
his  usual  seat  in  the  chimney-corner.  It  was  the  commence- 
ment of  a  succession  of  delightful  evenings  that  they  passed 
together  in  the  study  of  the  master  of  the  house,  not  in  the 
drawing  room — wherein  lay  a  nice  distinction.  And  at  a  later 
period  when,  yielding  to  their  guest's  entreaties,  the  young 
woman  consented  to  play  for  him,  she  did  not  invite  him  to  the 
salon,  but  entered  the  room  alone,  leaving  the  communicating 
door  open.  In  those  bitter  winter  evenings  the  old  oaks  of 
the  Ardennes  gave  out  a  grateful  warmth  from  the  depths  of 
the  great  cavernous  fireplace  ;  there  was  a  cup  of  fragrant  tea 
for  them  about  ten  o'clock  ;  they  laughed  and  chatted  in  the 
comfortable,  bright  room.  And  it  did  not  require  extra  powers 
of  vision  to  see  that  M.  de  Gartlauben  was  rapidly  falling  head 


THE  DOWNFALL.  4$t 

over  ears  in  love  with  that  sprightly  young  woman,  who  flirted 
with  him  as  audaciously  as  she  had  flirted  in  former  days  at 
Charleville  with  Captain  Beaudoin's  friends.  He  began-  to 
pay  increased  attention  to  his  person,  displayed  a  gallantry 
that  verged  on  the  fantastic,  was  raised  to  the  pinnacle  of 
bliss  by  the  most  trifling  favor,  tormented  by  the  one  ever- 
present  anxiety  not  to  appear  a  barbarian  in  her  eyes,  a  rude 
soldier  who  did  not  know  the  ways  of  women. 

And  thus  it  was  that  in  the  big,  gloomy  house  in  the  Rue 
Maqua  a  twofold  life  went  on.  While  at  meal-times  Edmond, 
the  wounded  cherub  with  the  pretty  face,  lent  a  listening  ear 
to  Delaherche's  unceasing  chatter,  blushing  if  ever  Gilberte 
asked  him  to  pass  her  the  salt,  while  at  evening  M.  de  Gart- 
lauben,  seated  in  the  study,  with  eyes  upturned  in  silent 
ecstasy,  listened  to  a  sonata  by  Mozart  performed  for  his 
benefit  by  the  young  woman  in  the  adjoining  drawing  room,  a 
stillness  as  of  death  continued  to  pervade  the  apartment  where 
Colonel  de  Vineuil  and  Madame  Delaherche  spent  their  days, 
the  blinds  tight  drawn,  the  lamp  continually  burning,  like  a 
votive  candle  illuminating  a  tomb.  December  had  come  and 
wrapped  the  city  in  a  winding-sheet  of  snow  ;  the  cruel  news 
seemed  all  the  bitterer  for  the  piercing  cold.  After  General 
Ducrot's  repulse  at  Champigny,  after  the  loss  of  Orleans,  there 
was  left  but  one  dark,  sullen  hope:  that  the  soil  of  France 
might  avenge  their  defeat,  exterminate  and  swallow  up  the 
victors.  Let  the  snow  fall  thicker  and  thicker  still,  let  the 
earth's  crust  crack  and  open  under  the  biting  frost,  that  in  it 
the  entire  German  nation  might  find  a  grave  !  And  there 
came  another  sorrow  to  wring  poor  Madame  Delaherche's 
heart.  One  night  when  her  son  was  from  home,  having  been 
suddenly  called  away  to  Belgium  on  business,  chancing  to  pass 
Gilberte's  door  she  heard  within  a  low  murmur  of  voices  and 
smothered  laughter.  Disgusted  and  sick  at  heart  she  returned 
to  her  own  room,  where  her  horror  of  the  abominable  thing 
she  suspected  the  existence  of  would  not  let  her  sleep  :  it 
could  have  been  none  other  but  the  Prussian  whose  voice  she 
heard  ;  she  had  thought  she  had  noticed  glances  of  intelli- 
gence passing  ;  she  was  prostrated  by  this  supreme  disgrace. 
Ah,  that  woman,  that  abandoned  woman,  whom  her  son  had 
insisted  on  bringing  to  the  house  despite  her  commands  and 
prayers,  whom  she  had  forgiven,  by  her  silence,  after  Captain 
Beaudoin's  death  !  And  now  the  thing  was  repeated,  and  this 
time  the  infamy  was  even  worse.  What  was  she  to  do  ?  Such 


DOWNFALL. 

an  enormity  must  not  go  unpunished  beneath  her  roof.  Her 
mind  was  torn  by  the  conflict  that  raged  there,  in  her  uncer- 
tainty as  to  the  course  she  should  pursue.  The  colonel,  de- 
siring to  know  nothing  of  what  occurred  outside  his  room, 
always  checked  her  with  a  gesture  when  he  thought  she  was 
about  to  give  him  any  piece  of  news,  and  she  had  said  nothing 
to  him  of  the  matter  that  had  caused  her  such  suffering ;  but 
on  those  days  when  she  came  to  him  with  tears  standing  in  her 
eyes  and  sat  for  hours  in  mournful  silence,  he  would  look  at 
her  and  say  to  himself  that  France  had  sustained  yet  another 
defeat. 

This  was  the  condition  of  affairs  in  the  house  in  the  Rue 
Maqua  when  Henriette  dropped  in  there  one  morning  to  en- 
deavor to  secure  Delaherche's  influence  in  favor  of  Father 
Fouchard.  She  had  heard  people  speak,  smiling  significantly 
as  they  did  so,  of  the  servitude  to  which  Gilberte  had  reduced 
Captain  de  Gartlauben  ;  she  was,  therefore,  somewhat  embar- 
rassed when  she  encountered  old  Madame  Delaherche,  to 
whom  she  thought  it  her  duty  to  explain  the  object  of  her 
visit,  ascending  the  great  staircase  on  her  way  to  the  colonel's 
apartment. 

"  Dear  madame,  it  would  be  so  kind  of  you  to  assist  us  ! 
My  uncle  is  in  great  danger  ;  they  talk  of  sending  him  away 
to  Germany." 

The  old  lady,  although  she  had  a  sincere  affection  for 
Henriette,  could  scarce  conceal  her  anger  as  she  replied  : 

"  I  am  powerless  to  help  you,  my  child  ;  you  should  not 
apply  to  me."  And  she  continued,  notwithstanding  the 
agitation  on  the  other's  face  :  "  You  have  selected  an  unfor- 
tunate moment  for  your  visit  ;  my  son  has  to  go  to  Belgium 
to-night.  Besides,  he  could  not  have  helped  you  ;  he  has  no 
more  influence  than  I  have.  Go  to  my  daughter-in-law  ;  she 
is  all  powerful." 

And  she  passed  on  toward  the  colonel's  room,  leaving 
Henriette  distressed  to  have  unwittingly  involved  herself  in 
a  family  drama.  Within  the  last  twenty-four  hours  Madame 
Delaherche  had  made  up  her  mind  to  lay  the  whole  matter 
before  her  son  before  his  departure  for  Belgium,  whither  he 
was  going  to  negotiate  a  large  purchase  of  coal  to  enable  him 
to  put  some  of  his  idle  looms  in  motion.  She  could  not 
endure  the  thought  that  the  abominable  thing  should  be  re- 
peated beneath  her  eyes  while  he  was  absent,  and  was  only 
waiting  to  make  sure  he  would  not  defer  his  departure  until 


THE  DOWNFALL.  493 

some  other  day,  as  he  had  been  doing  all  the  past  week.  It 
was  a  terrible  thing  to  contemplate  :  the  wreck  of  her  son's 
happiness,  the  Prussian  disgraced  and  driven  from  their  doors, 
the  wife,  too,  thrust  forth  upon  the  street  and  her  name  igno- 
miniously  placarded  on  the  walls,  as  had  been  threatened- 
would  be  done  with  any  woman  who  should  dishonor  herseli 
with  a  German. 

Gilberte  gave  a  little  scream  of  delight  on  beholding 
Henriette. 

"  Ah,  how  glad  I  am  to  see  you !  It  seems  an  age  since  we 
met,  and  one  grows  old  so  fast  in  the  midst  of  all  these 
horrors  !  "  Thus  running  on  she  dragged  her  friend  to  her 
bedroom,  where  she  seated  her  on  the  lounge  and  snuggled 
down  close  beside  her.  "  Come,  take  off  your  things  ;  you 
must  stay  and  breakfast  with  us.  But  first  we'll  talk  a  bit ; 
you  must  have  such  lots  and  lots  of  things  to  tell  me!  I 
know  that  you  are  without  news  of  your  brother.  Ah,  that 
poor  Maurice,  how  I  pity  him,  shut  up  in  Paris,  with  no  gas, 
no  wood,  no  bread,  perhaps  !  And  that  young  man  whom 
you  have  been  nursing,  that  friend  of  your  brother's — oh  !  a 
little  bird  has  told  me  all  about  it — isn't  it  for  his  sake  you 
are  here  to-day  ?  " 

Henriette's  conscience  smote  her,  and  she  did  not  answer. 
Was  it  not  really  for  Jean's  sake  that  she  had  come,  in  order 
that,  the  old  uncle  being  released,  the  invalid,  who  had  grown 
so  dear  to  her,  might  have  no  further  cause  for  alarm  ?  It 
distressed  her  to  hear  his  name  mentioned  by  Gilberte  ;  she 
could  not  endure  the  thought  of  enlisting  in  his  favor  an  in- 
fluence that  was  of  so  ambiguous  a  character.  Her  inbred 
scruples  of  a  pure,  honest  woman  made  themselves  felt,  now  it 
seemed  to  her  that  the  rumors  of  a  liaison  with  the  Prussian 
captain  had  some  foundation. 

"  Then  I'm  to  understand  that  it's  in  behalf  of  this  young 
man  that  you  come  to  us  for  assistance  ?  "  Gilberte  insistently 
went  on,  as  if  enjoying  her  friend's  discomfiture.  And  as  the 
latter,  cornered  and  unable  to  maintain  silence  longer,  finally 
spoke  of  Father  Fouchard's  arrest  :  "Why,  to  be  sure  !  What 
a  silly  thing  I  am — and  I  was  talking  of  it  only  this  morning  ! 
You  did  well  in  coming  to  us,  my  dear  ;  we  must  go  about 
your  uncle's  affair  at  once  and  see  what  we  can  do  for  him, 
for  the  last  news  I  had  was  not  reassuring.  They  are  on  the 
lookout  for  someone  of  whom  to  make  an  example." 

"  Yes,  I  have  had  you  in  mind  all  along,"   Henriette  hesi- 


494  THE  DOWNFALL. 

tatingly  replied.  "  I  thought  you  might  be  willing  to  assist 
me  with  your  advice,  perhaps  with  something  more  substan- 
tial  " 

The  young  woman  laughed  merrily.  "  You  little  goose,  I'll 
have  your  uncle  released  inside  three  days.  Don't  you  know 
that  I  have  a  Prussian  captain  here  in  the  house  who  stands 
ready  to  obey  my  every  order  ?  Understand,  he  can  refuse 
me  nothing  !  "  And  she  laughed  more  heartily  than  ever,  in 
the  giddy,  thoughtless  triumph  of  her  coquettish  nature,  hold- 
ing in  her  own  and  patting  the  hands  of  her  friend,  who  was 
so  uncomfortable  that  she  could  not  find  words  in  which  to 
express  her  thanks,  horrified  by  the  avowal  that  was  implied 
in  what  she  had  just  heard.  But  how  to  account  for  such 
serenity,  such  childlike  gayety  ?  "  Leave  it  to  me  ;  I'll  send 
you  home  to-night  with  a  mind  at  rest." 

When  they  passed  into  the  dining  room  Henriette  was 
struck  by  Edmond's  delicate  beauty,  never  having  seen  him 
before.  She  eyed  him  with  the  pleasure  she  would  have  felt 
in  looking  at  a  pretty  toy.  Could  it  be  possible  that  that  boy 
had  served  in  the  army  ?  and  how  could  they  have  been  so 
cruel  as  to  break  his  arm  ?  The  story  of  his  gallantry  in  the 
field  made  him  even  more  interesting  still,  and  Delaherche,  who 
had  received  Henriette  with  the  cordiality  of  a  man  to  whom 
the  sight  of  a  new  face  is  a  godsend,  while  the  servants  were 
handing  round  the  cutlets  and  the  potatoes  cooked  in  their 
jackets,  never  seemed  to  tire  of  eulogizing  his  secretary,  who 
was  as  industrious  and  well  behaved  as  he  was  handsome. 
They  made  a  very  pleasant  and  homelike  picture,  the  four, 
thus  seated  around  the  bright  table  in  the  snug,  warm  dining 
room. 

"  So  you  want  us  to  interest  ourselves  in  Father  Fouchard's 
case,  and  it's  to  that  we  owe  the  pleasure  of  your  visit,  eh  ?" 
saic  the  manufacturer.  "  I'm  extremely  sorry  that  I  have  to 
go  away  to-night,  but  my  wife  will  set  things  straight  for  you 
in  a  jiffy  ;  there's  no  resisting  her,  she  has  only  to  ask  for  a 
thing  to  get  it."  He  laughed  as  he  concluded  his  speech, 
which  was  uttered  in  perfect  simplicity  of  soul,  evidently 
pleased  and  flattered  that  his  wife  possessed  such  influence, 
in  which  he  shone  with  a  kind  of  reflected  glory.  Then  turn- 
ing suddenly  to  her  :  "  By  the  way,  my  dear,  has  Edmond 
told  you  of  his  great  discovery  ? " 

"  No  ;  what  discovery  ? "  asked  Gilberte,  turning  her  pretty, 
caressing  eyes  full  on  the  young  sergeant. 


THE  DOWNFALL.  495 

The  cherub  blushed  whenever  a  woman  looked  at  him  in 
that  way,  as  if  the  exquisiteness  of  his  sensations  was  too  much 
for  him.  "  It's  nothing,  madame  ;  only  a  bit  of  old  lace  ;  I 
heard  you  saying  the  other  day  you  wanted  some  to  put  on 
your  mauve  peignoir.  I  happened  yesterday  to  come  across 
five  yards  of  oloVBruges  point,  something  really  handsome  and 
very  cheap.  The  woman  will  be  here  presently  to  show  it  to 
you/' 

She  could  have  kissed  him,  so  delighted  was  she.  "  Oh, 
how  nice  of  you  !  You  shall  have  your  reward." 

Then,  while  a  terrine  of  foie  gras,  purchased  in  Belgium, 
was  being  served,  the  conversation  took  another  turn  ;  dwelling 
for  an  instant  on  the  quantities  of  fish  that  were  dying  of 
poison  in  the  Meuse,  and  finally  coming  around  to  the  subject 
of  the  pestilence  that  menaced  Sedan  when  there  should  be  a 
thaw.  Even  as  early  as  November,  there  had  been  several 
cases  of  disease  of  an  epidemic  character.  Six  thousand  francs 
had  been  expended  after  the  battle  in  cleansing  the  city  and 
collecting  and  burning  clothing,  knapsacks,  haversacks,  all 
the  debris  that  was  capable  of  harboring  infection  ;  but,  for  all 
that,  the  surrounding  fields  continued  to  exhale  sickening  odors 
whenever  there  came  a  day  or  two  of  warmer  weather,  so 
replete  were  they  with  half-buried  corpses,  covered  only  with 
a  few  inches  of  loose  earth.  In  every  direction  the  ground 
was  dotted  with  graves  ;  the  soil  cracked  and  split  in  obedi- 
ence to  the  forces  acting  beneath  its  surface,  and  from  the 
fissures  thus  formed  the  gases  of  putrefaction  issued  to  poison 
the  living.  In  those  more  recent  days,  moreover,  another 
center  of  contamination  had  been  discovered,  the  Meuse, 
although  there  had  already  been  removed  from  it  the  bodies 
of  more  than  twelve  hundred  dead  horses.  It  was  generally 
believed  that  there  were  no  more  human  remains  left  in  the 
stream,  until,  one  day,  a  garde  champetre,  looking  attentively 
down  into  the  water  where  it  was  some  six  feet  deep,  dis- 
covered some  objects  glimmering  at  the  bottom,  that  at  first  he 
took  for  stones  ;  but  they  proved  to  be  corpses  of  men,  that 
had  been  mutilated  in  such  a  manner  as  to  prevent  the  gas 
from  accumulating  in  the  cavities  of  the  body  and  hence  had 
been  kept  from  rising  to  the  surface.  For  near  four  months 
they  had  been  lying  there  in  the  water  among  the  eel-grass. 
When  grappled  for  the  irons  brought  them  up  in  fragments,  a 
head,  an  arm,  or  a  leg  at  a  time  ;  at  times  the  force  of  the 
current  would  suffice  to  detach  a  hand  or  foot  and  send  it 


496  THE  DOWNFALL. 

rolling  down  the  stream.     Great  bubbles  of  gas  lose  to  the 
surface  and  burst,  still  further  empoisoning  the  air. 

"  We  shall  get  along  well  enough  as  long  as  the  cold  weather 
lasts,"  remarked  Delaherche,  "  but  as  soon  as  the  snow  is  off 
the  ground  we  shall  have  to  go  to  work  in  earnest  to  abate 
the  nuisance  ;  if  we  don't  we  shall  be  wanting«graves  for  our- 
selves." And  when  his  wife  laughingly  asked  him  if  he  could 
not  find  some  more  agreeable  subject  to  talk  about  at  the  table, 
he  concluded  by  saying  :  "  Well,  it  will  be  a  long  time  before 
any  of  us  will  care  to  eat  any  fish  out  of  the  Meuse." 

They  had  finished  their  repast,  and  the  coffee  was  being 
poured,  when  the  maid  came  to  the  door  and  announced  that 
M.  de  Gartlauben  presented  his  compliments  and  wanted  to 
know  if  he  might  be  allowed  to  see  them  for  a  moment. 
There  was  a  slight  flutter  of  excitement,  for  it  was  the  first 
time  he  had  ever  presented  himself  at  that  hour  of  the  day. 
Delaherche,  seeing  in  the  circumstance  a  favorable  opportunity 
for  presenting  Henriette  to  him,  gave  orders  that  he  should  be 
introduced  at  once.  The  doughty  captain,  when  he  beheld 
another  young  woman  in  the  room,  surpassed  himself  in  polite- 
ness, even  accepting  a  cup  of  coffee,  which  he  took  without 
sugar,  as  he  had  seen  many  people  do  at  Paris.  He  had  only 
asked  to  be  received  at  that  unusual  hour,  he  said,  that  he 
might  tell  Madame  he  had  succeeded  in  obtaining  the  pardon 
of  one  of  her  proteges,  a  poor  operative  in  the  factory  who 
had  been  arrested  on  account  of  a  squabble  with  a  Prussian. 
And  Gilberte  thereon  seized  the  opportunity  to  mention  Father 
Fouchard's  case. 

"  Captain,  I  wish  to  make  you  acquainted  with  one  of  my 
dearest  friends,  who  desires  to  place  herself  under  your  pro- 
tection. She  is  the  niece  of  the  farmer  who  was  arrested  lately 
at  Remilly,  as  you  are  aware,  for  being  mixed  up  with  that 
business  of  the  francs-tireurs." 

"  Yes,  yes,  I  know  ;  the  affair  of  the  spy,  the  poor  fellow 
who  was  found  in  a  sack  with  his  throat  cut.  It's  a  bad  busi- 
ness, a  very  bad  business.  I  am  afraid  I  shall  not  be  able  to 
do  anything." 

"  Oh,  Captain,  don't  say  that !  I  should  consider  it  such  a 
favor  !  " 

There  was  a  caress  in  the  look  she  cast  on  him,  while  he 
beamed  with  satisfaction,  bowing  his  head  in  gallant  obedience, 
Her  wish  was  his  law  ! 

"You  would  have  all  my  gratitude,  sir,"  faintly  murmured 


THE  DOWNFALL.  497 

Henriette,  to  whose  memory  suddenly  rose  the  image  of  her 
husband,  her  dear  Weiss,  slaughtered  down  yonder  at  Ba- 
zeilles,  filling  her  with  invincible  repugnance. 

Edmond,  who  had  discreetly  taken  himself  off  on  the  arrival 
of  the  captain,  now  reappeared  and  whispered  something  in 
Gilberte's  ear.  She  rose  quickly  from  the  table,  and,  an- 
nouncing to  the  company  that  she  was  going  to  inspect  her 
lace,  excused  herself  and  followed  the  young  man  from  the 
room.  Henriette,  thus  left  alone  with  the  two  men,  went  and 
took  a  seat  by  herself  in  the  embrasure  of  a  window,  while 
they  remained  seated  at  the  table  and  went  on  talking  in  a 
loud  tone. 

"  Captain,  you'll  have  a  petit  verre  with  me.  You  see  I 
don't  stand  on  ceremony  with  you  ;  I  say  whatever  comes  into 
my  head,  because  I  know  you  to  be  a  fair-minded  man.  Now 
I  tell  you  your  prefet  is  all  wrong  in  trying  to  extort  those 
forty-two  thousand  francs  from  the  city.  Just  think  once  of 
all  our  losses  since  the  beginning  of  the  war.  In  the  first 
place,  before  the  battle,  we  had  the  entire  French  army  on  our 
hands,  a  set  of  ragged,  hungry,  exhausted  men  ;  and  then 
along  came  your  rascals,  and  their  appetites  were  not  so  very 
poor,  either.  The  passage  of  those  troops  through  the  place, 
what  with  requisitions,  repairing  damages  and  expenses  of  all 
sorts,  stood  us  in  a  million  and  a  half.  Add  as  much  more 
for  the  destruction  caused  by  your  artillery  and  by  conflagra- 
tion during  the  battle  ;  there  you  have  three  millions.  Finally, 
I  am  well  within  bounds  in  estimating  the  loss  sustained  by 
our  trade  and  manufactures  at  two  millions.  What  do  you 
say  to  that,  eh  ?  A  grand  total  of  five  million  francs  for  a 
city  of  thirteen  thousand  inhabitants  !  And  now  you  come 
and  ask  us  for  forty-two  thousand  more  as  a  contribution  to 
the  expense  of  carrying  on  the  war  against  us  !  Is  it  fair,  is 
it  reasonable  ?  I  leave  it  to  your  own  sense  of  justice." 

M.  de  Gartlauben  nodded  his  head  with  an  air  of  profundity, 
and  made  answer  : 

"  What  can  you  expect  ?  It  is  the  fortune  of  war,  the  fortune 
of  war." 

To  Henriette,  seated  in  her  window  seat,  her  ears  ringing, 
and  vague,  sad  images  of  every  sort  fleeting  through  her 
brain,  the  time  seemed  to  pass  with  mortal  slowness,  while 
Delaherche  asserted  on  his  word  of  honor  that  Sedan  could 
never  have  weathered  the  crisis  produced  by  the  exportation 
of  all  their  specie  had  it  not  been  for  the  wisdom  of  the  local 


THE  DOWNFALL. 

magnates  in  emitting  an  issue  of  paper  money,  a  step  that 
had  saved  the  city  from  financial  ruin. 

"  Captain,  will  you  have  just  a  drop  of  cognac  more?  "  and 
he  skipped  to  another  topic.  "  It  was  not  France  that  started 
the  war  ;  it  was  the  Emperor.  Ah,  I  was  greatly  deceived  in 
the  Emperor.  He  need  never  expect  to  sit  on  the  throne 
again  ;  we  would  see  the  country  dismembered  first.  Look 
here  !  there  was  just  one  man  in  this  country  last  July  who 
saw  things  as  they  were,  and  that  was  M.  Thiers;  and  his  action 
at  the  present  time  in  visiting  the  different  capitals  of  Europe 
is  most  wise  and  patriotic.  He  has  the  best  wishes  of  every 
good  citizen  ;  may  he  be  successful  ! '' 

He  expressed  the  conclusion  of  his  idea  by  a  gesture,  for  he 
would  have  considered  it  improper  to  speak  of  his  desire  for 
peace  before  a  Prussian,  no  matter  how  friendly  he  might  be, 
although  the  desire  burned  fiercely  in  his  bosom,  as  it  did  in 
that  of  every  member  of  the  old  conservative  bourgeoisie  who 
had  favored  the  plebiscite.  Their  men  and  money  were  ex- 
hausted, it  was  time  for  them  to  throw  up  the  sponge  ;  and 
a  deep-seated  feeling  of  hatred  toward  Paris,  for  the  obstinacy 
with  which  it  held  out,  prevailed  in  all  the  provinces  that  were 
in  possession  of  the  enemy.  He  concluded  in  a  lower  tone, 
his  allusion  being  to  Gambetta's  inflammatory  proclamations  : 

"  No,  no,  we  cannot  give  our  suffrages  to  fools  and  mad- 
men. The  course  they  advocate  would  end  in  general  massa- 
cre. I,  for  my  part,  am  for  M.  Thiers,  who  would  submit  the 
questions  at  issue  to  the  popular  vote,  and  as  for  their  Repub- 
lic, great  heavens  !  let  them  have  it  if  they  want  it,  while  wait- 
ing for  something  better  ;  it  don't  trouble  me  in  the  slightest." 

Captain  de  Gartlauben  continued  to  nod  his  head  very  po- 
litely with  an  approving  air,  murmuring  : 

"  To  be  sure,  to  be  sure " 

Henriette,  whose  feeling  of  distress  had  been  increasing, 
could  stand  their  talk  no  longer.  She  could  assign  no  definite 
reason  for  the  sensation  of  inquietude  that  possessed  her  ;  it 
was  only  a  longing  to  get  away,  and  she  rose  and  left  the 
room  quietly  in  quest  of  Gilberte,  whose  absence  had  been  so 
long  protracted.  On  entering  the  bedroom,  however,  she  was 
greatly  surprised  to  find  her  friend  stretched  on  the  lounge, 
weeping  bitterly  and  manifestly  suffering  from  some  extremely 
painful  emotion. 

"  Why,  what  is  the  matter  ?     What  has  happened  you  ?  " 

The  young  woman's  tears  flowed  faster  still  and  she  would 


THE  DOWNFALL.  499 

not  speak,  manifesting  a  confusion  that  sent  every  drop  of 
blood  coursing  from  her  heart  up  to  her  face.  At  last, 
throwing  herself  into  the  arms  that  were  opened  to  receive  her 
and  concealing  her  face  in  the  other's  bosom,  she  stammered  : 

"  Oh,  darling  if  you  but  knew.  I  shall  never  dare  to  tell 
you — and  yet  I  have  no  one  but  you,  you  alone  perhaps  can 
tell  me  what  is  best  to  do."  A  shiver  passed  through  her 
frame,  her  voice  was  scarcely  audible.  "  I  was  with 
Edmond — and  then — and  then  Madame  Delaherche  came 
into  the  room  and  caught  me " 

"  Caught  you  !     What  do  you  mean  ?  " 

"Yes,  we  were  here  in  the  room ;  he  was  holding  me  in  his 
arms  and  kissing  me "  And  clasping  Henriette  convul- 
sively in  her  trembling  arms  she  told  her  all.  "  Oh,  my 
darling,  don't  judge  me  severely  ;  I  could  not  bear  it  !  I 
know  I  promised  you  it  should  never  happen  again,  but  you 
have  seen  Edmond,  you  know  how  brave  he  is,  how  hand- 
some !  And  think  once  of  the  poor  young  man,  wounded,  ill, 
with  no  one  to  give  him  a  mother's  care  !  And  then  he  has 
never  had  the  enjoyments  that  wealth  affords ;  his  family 
have  pinched  themselves  to  give  him  an  education.  I  could 
not  be  harsh  with  him." 

Henriette  listened,  the  picture  of  surprise  ;  she  could  not 
recover  from  her  amazement.  '*  What  !  you  don't  mean  to 
say  it  was  the  little  sergeant !  Why,  my  dear,  everyone  be- 
lieves the  Prussian  to  be  your  lover  ! " 

Gilberte  straightened  herself  up  with  an  indignant  air,  and 
dried  her  eyes.  "The  Prussian  my  lover?  No,  thank  you! 
He's  detestable  ;  I  can't  endure  him.  I  wonder  what  they 
take  me  for  ?  What  have  I  ever  done  that  they  should  sup- 
pose I  could  be  guilty  of  such  baseness?  No,  never!  I 
would  rather  die  than  do  such  a  thing  ! "  In  the  earnestness 
of  her  protestatio.ns  her  beauty  had  assumed  an  angry  and 
more  lofty  cast  that  made  her  look  other  than  she  was.  And 
all  at  once,  sudden  as  a  flash,  her  coquettish  gayety,  her 
thoughtless  levity,  came  back  to  her  face,  accompanied  by  a 
peal  of  silvery  laughter.  "  I  won't  deny  that  I  amuse  myself 
at  his  expense.  He  adores  me,  and  I  have  only  to  give  him  a 
look  to  make  him  obey.  You  have  no  idea  what  fun  it  is  to 
bamboozle  that  great  big  man,  who  seems  to  think  he  will 
have  his  reward  some  day." 

"  But  that  is  a  very  dangerous  game  you're  playing,"  Hen- 
riette gravely  said. 


500  THE  DOWNFALL. 

"  Oh,  do  you  think  so  ?  What  risk  do  I  incur  ?  When  he 
comes  to  see  he  has  nothing  to  expect  he  can't  do  more  than 
be  angry  with  me  and  go  away.  But  he  will  never  see  it  ! 
You  don't  know  the  man  ;  I  read  him  like  a  book  from  the 
very  start  :  he  is  one  of  those  men  with  whom  a  woman  can 
do  what  she  pleases  and  incur  no  danger.  I  have  an  instinct 
.that  guides  me  in  these  matters  and  which  has  never  deceived 
me.  He  is  too  consumed  by  vanity  ;  no  human  consideration 
will  ever  drive  it  into  his  head  that  by  any  possibility  a  woman 
could  get  the  better  of  him.  And  all  he  will  get  from  me  will 
be  permission  to  carry  away  my  remembrance,  with  the  con- 
soling thought  that  he  has  done  the  proper  thing  and  behaved 
himself  like  a  gallant  man  who  has  long  been  an  inhabitant  of 
Paris."  And  with  her  air  of  triumphant  gayety  she  added  : 
"  But  before  he  leaves  he  shall  cause  Uncle  Fouchard  to  be 
set  at  liberty,  and  all  his  recompense  for  his  trouble  shall  be  a 
cup  of  tea  sweetened  by  these  fingers." 

But  suddenly  her  fears  returned  to  her  :  she  remembered 
what  must  be  the  terrible  consequences  of  her  indiscretion, 
and  her  eyes  were  again  bedewed  with  tears. 

"  Mon  Dieu !  and  Madame  Delaherche — how  will  it  all 
end  ?  She  bears  me  no  love  ;  she  is  capable  of  telling  the 
whole  story  to  my  husband." 

Henriette  had  recovered  her  composure.  She  dried  her 
friend's  eyes,  and  made  her  rise  from  the  lounge  and  arrange 
her  disordered  clothing. 

"  Listen,  my  dear  ;  I  cannot  bring  myself  to  scold  you,  and 
yet  you  know  what  my  sentiments  must  be.  But  I  was  so 
alarmed  by  the  stories  I  heard  about  the  Prussian,  the  business 
wore  such  an  extremely  ugly  aspect,  that  this  affair  really 
comes  to  me  as  a  sort  of  relief  by  comparison.  Cease  weep- 
ing ;  things  may  come  out  all  right." 

Her  action  was  taken  none  too  soon,  for  almost  immediately 
Delaherche  and  his  mother  entered  the  room.  He  said  that 
he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  take  the  train  for  Brussels  that 
afternoon  and  had  been  giving  orders  to  have  a  carriage  ready 
to  carry  him  across  the  frontier  into  Belgium  ;  so  he  had  come 
to  say  good-by  to  his  wife.  Then  turning  and  addressing 
Henriette  : 

"  You  need  have  no  further  fears.  M.  de  Gartlauben,  just 
as  he  was  going  away,  promised  me  he  would  attend  to  your 
Uncle's  case,  and  although  I  shall  not  be  here,  my  wife  will 
Veep  an  eye  to  it." 


THE  DOWNFALL.  SGI 

Since  Madame  Delaherche  had  made  her  appearance  in  the 
apartment  Gilberte  had  not  once  taken  her  anxious  eyes  from 
off  her  face.  Would  she  speak,  would  she  tell  what  she  had 
seen,  and  keep  her  son  from  starting  on  his  projected  journey  ? 
The  elder  lady,  also,  soon  as  she  crossed  the  threshold,  had 
bent  her  fixed  gaze  in  silence  on  her  daughter-in-law.  Doubt- 
less her  stern  patriotism  induced  her  to  view  the  matter  in 
somewhat  the  same  light  that  Henriette  had  viewed  it.  Mon 
Dieu  !  since  it  was  that  young  man,  that  Frenchman  who  had 
fought  so  bravely,  was  it  not  her  duty  to  forgive,  even  as  she 
had  forgiven  once  before,  in  Captain  Beaudoin's  case  ?  A  look 
of  greater  softness  rose  to  her  eyes  ;  she  averted  her  head. 
Her  son  might  go  ;  Edmond  would  be  there  to  protect  Gilberte 
against  the  Prussian.  She  even  smiled  faintly,  she  whose  grim 
face  had  never  once  relaxed  since  the  news  of  the  victory  at 
Coulmiers. 

"  Au  revoir"  she  said,  folding  her  son  in  her  arms.  "  Finish 
up  your  business  quickly  as  you  can  and  come  back  to  us." 

And  she  took  herself  slowly  away,  returning  to  the  prison- 
like  chamber  across  the  corridor,  where  the  colonel,  with  his 
dull  gaze,  was  peering  into  the  shadows  that  lay  outside  the 
disk  of  bright  light  which  fell  from  the  lamp. 

Henriette  returned  to  Remilly  that  same  evening,  and  one 
morning,  three  days  afterward,  had  the  pleasure  to  see  Father 
Fouchard  come  walking  into  the  house,  as  calmly  as  if  he  had 
merely  stepped  out  to  transact  some  business  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. He  took  a  seat  by  the  table  and  refreshed  himself  with 
some  bread  and  cheese,  and  to  all  the  questions  that  were  put 
to  him  replied  with  cool  deliberation,  like  a  man  who  had 
never  seen  anything  to  alarm  him  in  his  situation.  What 
reason  had  he  to  be  afraid  ?  He  had  done  nothing  wrong  ;  it 
was  not  he  who  had  killed  the  Prussian,  was  it  ?  So  he  had 
just  said  to  the  authorities  :  "  Investigate  the  matter  ;  I  know 
nothing  about  it."  And  they  could  do  nothing  but  release 
him,  and  the  mayor  as  well,  seeing  they  had  no  proofs  against 
them.  But  the  eyes  of  the  crafty,  sly  old  peasant  gleamed  with 
delight  at  the  thought  of  how  nicely  he  had  pulled  the  wool 
over  the  eyes  of  those  dirty  blackguards,  who  were  beginning 
to  higgle  with  him  over  the  quality  of  the  meat  he  furnished 
to  them. 

December  was  drawing  near  its  end,  and  Jean  insisted  on 
going  away.  His  leg  was  quite  strong  again,  and  the  doctor 
announced  that  he  was  fit  to  go  and  join  the  army.  This  was 


502  THE  DOWNFALL. 

to  Henriette  a  subject  of  profoundest  sorrow,  which  she  kept 
locked  in  her  bosom  as  well  as  she  was  able.  No  tidings  from 
Paris  had  reached  them  since  the  disastrous  battle  of  Cham- 
pigny  ;  all  they  knew  was  that  Maurice's  regiment  had  been 
exposed  to  a  murderous  fire  and  had  suffered  severely.  Ever 
that  deep,  unbroken  silence  ;  no  letter,  never  the  briefest  line 
for  them,  when  they  knew  that  families  in  Raucourtand  Sedan 
were  receiving  intelligence  of  their  loved  ones  by  circuitous 
ways.  Perhaps  the  pigeon  that  was  bringing  them  the  so 
eagerly  wished-for  news  had  fallen  a  victim  to  some  hungry 
bird  of  prey,  perhaps  the  bullet  of  a  Prussian  had  brought  it 
to  the  ground  at  the  margin  of  a  wood.  But  the  fear  that 
haunted  them  most  of  all  was  that  Maurice  was  dead  ;  the 
silence  of  the  great  city  off  yonder  in  the  distance,  uttering  no 
cry  in  the  mortal  hug  of  the  investment,  was  become  to  them 
in  their  agonized  suspense  the  silence  of  death.  They  had 
abandoned  all  hope  of  tidings,  and  when  Jean  declared  his 
settled  purpose  to  be  gone,  Henriette  only  gave  utterance  to 
this  stifled  cry  of  despair  : 

"  My  God  !  then  all  is  ended,  and  I  am  to  be  left  alone  !  " 
It  was  Jean's  desire  to  go  and  serve  with  the  Army  of  the 
North,  which  had  recently  been  re-formed  under  General 
Faidherbe.  Now  that  General  Manteuffel's  corps  had  moved 
forward  to  Dieppe  there  were  three  departments,  cut  off  from 
the  rest  of  France,  that  this  army  had  to  defend,  le  Nord,  le 
Pas-de-Calais,  and  la  Somme,  arid  Jean's  plan,  not  a  difficult 
one  to  carry  into  execution,  was  simply  to  make  for  Bouillon 
and  thence  complete  his  journey  across  Belgian  territory.  He 
knew  that  the  23d  corps  was  being  recruited,  mainly  from 
such  old  soldiers  of  Sedan  and  Metz  as  could  be  gathered  to 
the  standards.  He  had  heard  it  reported  that  General  Faid- 
herbe was  about  to  take  the  field,  and  had  definitely  appointed 
the  next  ensuing  Sunday  as  the  day  of  his  departure,  when 
news  reached  him  of  the  battle  of  Pont-Noyelle,  that  drawn 
battle  which  came  so  near  being  a  victory  for  the  French. 

It  was  Dr.  Dalichamp  again  in  this  instance  who  offered  the 
services  of  his  gig  and  himself  as  driver  to  Bouillon.  The 
good  man's  courage  and  kindness  were  boundless.  At  Rau- 
court,  where  typhus  was  raging,  communicated  by  the  Bavari- 
ans, there  was  not  a  house  where  he  had  not  one  or  more 
patients,  and  this  labor  was  additional  to  his  regular  attend- 
ance at  the  two  hospitals  at  Raucourt  and  Remilly.  His  ardent 
patriotism,  the  impulse  that  prompted  him  to  protest  against 


THE  DOWNFALL.  503 

unnecessary  barbarity,  had  twice  led  to  his  being  arrested  by 
the  Prussians,  only  to  be  released  on  each  occasion.  He  gave 
a  little  laugh  of  satisfaction,  therefore,  the  morning  he  came 
with  his  vehicle  to  take  up  Jean,  pleased  to  be  the  instrument 
of  assisting  the  escape  of  another  of  the  victims  of  Sedan,  those 
poor,  brave  fellows,  as  he  called  them,  to  whom  he  gave  his 
professional  services  and  whom  he  aided  with  his  purse.  Jean, 
who  knew  of  Henriette's  straitened  circumstances  and  had 
been  suffering  from  lack  of  funds  since  his  relapse,  accepted 
gratefully  the  fifty  francs  that  the  doctor  offered  him  for 
traveling  expenses. 

Father  Fouchard  did  things  handsomely  at  the  leave-taking, 
sending  Silvine  to  the  cellar  for  two  bottles  of  wine  and  insist- 
ing that  everyone  should  drink  a  glass  to  the  extermination 
of  the  Germans.  He  was  a  man  of  importance  in  the  country 
nowadays  and  had  his  "  plum  "  hidden  away  somewhere  or 
other  ;  he  could  sleep  in  peace  now  that  the  francs-tireurs  had 
disappeared,  driven  like  wild  beasts  from  their  lair,  and  his 
sole  wish  was  for  a  speedy  conclusion  of  the  war.  He  had 
even  gone  so  far  in  one  of  his  generous  fits  as  to  pay  Prosper 
his  wages  in  order  to  retain  his  services  on  the  farm,  which 
the  young  man  had  no  thought  of  leaving.  He  touched 
glasses  with  Prosper,  and  also  with  Silvine,  whom  he  at  times 
was  half  inclined  to  marry,  knowing  what  a  treasure  he  had  in 
his  faithful,  hard-working  little  servant  ;  but  what  was  the 
use  ?  he  knew  she  would  never  leave  him,  that  she  would  still 
be  there  when  Chariot  should  be  grown  and  go  in  turn  to 
serve  his  country  as  a  soldier.  And  touching  his  glass  to 
Henriette's,  Jean's,  and  the  doctor's,  he  exclaimed  : 

"  Here's  to  the  health  of  you  all  !  May  you  all  prosper  and 
be  no  worse  off  than  I  am  !  " 

Henriette  would  not  let  Jean  go  away  without  accompany- 
ing him  as  far  as  Sedan.  He  was  in  citizen's  dress,  wearing  a 
frock  coat  and  derby  hat  that  the  doctor  had  loaned  him.  The 
day  was  piercingly  cold  ;  the  sun's  rays  were  reflected  from  a 
crust  of  glittering  snow.  Their  intention  had  been  to  pass 
through  the  city  without  stopping,  but  when  Jean  learned  that 
his  old  colonel  was  still  at  the  Delaherches'-he  felt  an  irresisti- 
ble desire  to  go  and  pay  his  respects  to  him,  and  at  the  same 
time  thank  the  manufacturer  for  his  many  kindnesses.  His 
visit  was  destined  to  bring  him  an  additional,  a  final  sorrow, 
in  that  city  of  mournful  memories.  On  reaching  the  structure 
in  the  Rue  Maqua  they  found  the  household  in  a  condition  of 


504  THE  DOWNFALL. 

the  greatest  distress  and  disorder,  Gilberte  wringing  her  hands, 
Madame  Delaherche  weeping  great  silent  tears,  while  her  son, 
who  had  come  in  from  the  factory,  where  work  was  gradually 
being  resumed,  uttered  exclamations  of  surprise.  The  colonel 
had  just  been  discovered,  stone  dead,  lying  exactly  as  he  had 
fallen,  in  a  heap  on  the  floor  of  his  chamber.  The  physician, 
who  was  summoned  with  all  haste,  could  assign  no  cause  for 
the  sudden  death  ;  there  was  no  indication  of  paralysis  or 
heart  trouble.  The  colonel  had  been  stricken  down,  and  no 
one  could  tell  from  what  quarter  the  blow  came  ;  but  the  fol- 
lowing morning,  when  the  room  was  thrown  open,  a  piece  of 
an  old  newspaper  was  found,  lying  on  the  carpet,  that  had  been 
wrapped  around  a  book  and  contained  the  account  of  the 
surrender  of  Metz. 

"  My  dear,"  said  Gilberte  to  Henriette,  "  as  Captain  de 
Gartlauben  was  coming  downstairs  just  now  he  removed  his 
hat  as  he  passed  the  door  of  the  room  where  my  uncle's  body 
is  lying.  Edmond  saw  it  ;  he's  an  extremely  well-bred  man, 
don't  you  think  so  ?" 

In  all  their  intimacy  Jean  had  never  yet  kissed  Henriette. 
Before  resuming  his  seat  in  the  gig  with  the  doctor  he  en- 
deavored to  thank  her  for  all  her  devoted  kindness,  for  having 
nursed  and  loved  him  as  a  brother,  but  somehow  the  words 
would  not  come  at  his  command  ;  he  opened  his  arms  and, 
with  a  great  sob,  clasped  her  in  a  long  embrace,  and  she,  be- 
side herself  with  the  grief  of  parting,  returned  his  kiss.  Then 
the  horse  started,  he  turned  about  in  his  seat,  there  was  a 
waving  of  hands,  while  again  and  again  two  sorrowful  voices 
repeated  in  choking  accents  : 

"  Farewell  !     Farewell  ! " 

On  her  return  to  Remilly  that  evening  Henriette  reported 
for  duty  at  the  hospital.  During  the  silent  watches  of  the 
night  she  was  visited  by  another  convulsive  attack  of  sobbing, 
and  wept,  wept  as  if  her  tears  would  never  cease  to  flow, 
clasping  her  hands  before  her  as  if  between  them  to  strangle 
her  bitter  sorrow. 

VII. 

ON  the  day  succeeding  the  battle  of  Sedan  the  mighty  hosts 
of  the  two  German  armies,  without  the  delay  of  a  moment, 
commenced  their  march  on  Paris,  the  army  of  the  Meuse  com- 
ing in  by  the  north  through  the  valley  of  the  Marne,  while  the 


-   THE  DOWNFALL.  505 

third  army,  passing  the  Seine  at  Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, 
turned  the  city  to  the  south  and  moved  on  Versailles  ;  and 
when,  on  that  bright,  warm  September  morning,  General 
Ducrot,  to  whom  had  been  assigned  the  command  of  the  as 
yet  incomplete  i4th  corps,  determined  to  attack  the  latter 
force  while  it  was  marching  by  the  flank,  Maurice's  new  regi- 
ment, the  i icjth,  encamped  in  the  woods  to  the  left  of  Meudon, 
did  not  receive  its  orders  to  advance  until  the  day  was  lost. 
A  few  shells  from  the  enemy  sufficed  to  do  the  work  ;  the 
panic  started  with  a  regiment  of  zouaves  made  up  of  raw  re- 
cruits, and  quickly  spreading  to  the  other  troops,  all  were 
swept  away  in  a  headlong  rout  that  never  ceased  until  they 
were  safe  behind  the  walls  of  Paris,  where  the  utmost  conster- 
nation prevailed.  Every  position  in  advance  of  the  southern 
line  of  fortifications  was  lost,  and  that  evening  the  wires  of 
the  Western  Railway  telegraph,  the  city's  sole  remaining 
means  of  communicating  with  the  rest  of  France,  were  cut. 
Paris  was  cut  off  from  the  world. 

The  condition  of  their  affairs  caused  Maurice  a  terrible  de- 
jection. Had  the  Germans  been  more  enterprising  they  might 
have  pitched  their  tents  that  night  in  the  Place  du. Carrousel, 
but  with  the  prudence  of  their  race  they  had  determined  that 
the  siege  should  be  conducted  according  to  rule  and  precept, 
and  had  already  fixed  upon  the  exact  lines  of  investment,  the 
position  of  the  army  of  the  Meuse  being  at  the  north,  stretch- 
ing from  Croissy  to  the  Marne,  through  Epinay,  the  cordon  ot 
the  third  army  at  the  south,  from  Chennevieres  to  Chatillon 
and  Bougival,  while  general  headquarters,  with  King  William, 
Bismarck,  and  General  von  Moltke,  were  established  at  Ver- 
sailles. The  gigantic  blockade,  that  no  one  believed  could 
be  successfully  completed,  was  an  accomplished  fact  ;  the 
city,  with  its  girdle  of  fortifications  eight  leagues  and  a  half 
in  length,  embracing  fifteen  forts  and  six  detached  redoubts, 
was  henceforth  to  be  transformed  into  a  huge  prison-pen. 
And  the  army  of  the  defenders  comprised  only  the  i3th  corps 
commanded  by  General  Vinoy,  and  the  i4th,  then  in  proces? 
of  reconstruction  under  General  Ducrot,  the  two  aggregating 
an  effective  strength  of  eighty  thousand  men  ;  to  which  were 
to  be  added  fourteen  thousand  sailors,  fifteen  thousand  of  the 
francs  corps,  and  a  hundred  and  fifteen  thousand  mobiles,  not 
to  mention  the  three  hundred  thousand  National  Guards  dis- 
tributed among  the  sectional  divisions  of  the  ramparts.  If 
this  seems  like  a  large  force  it  must  be  remembered  that  there 


506  THE  DOWNFALL. 

were  few  seasoned  and  trained  soldiers  among  its  numbers. 
Men  were  constantly  being  drilled  and  equipped  ;  Paris  was  a 
great  intrenched  camp.  The  preparations  for  the  defense 
went  on  from  hour  to  hour  with  feverish  haste  ;  roads  were 
built,  houses  demolished  within  the  military  zone  ;  the  two 
hundred  siege  guns  and  the  twenty-five  hundred  pieces  of 
lesser  caliber  were  mounted  in  position,  other  guns  were  cast ; 
an  arsenal,  complete  in  every  detail,  seemed  to  spring  from 
the  earth  under  the  tireless  efforts  of  Dorian,  the  patriotic  war 
minister.  When,  after  the  rupture  of  the  negotiations  at  Fer- 
rieres,  Jules  Favre  acquainted  the  country  with  M.  von  Bis- 
marck's demands — the  cession  of  Alsace,  the  garrison  of 
Strasbourg  to  be  surrendered,  three  milliards  of  indemnity — 
a  cry  of  rage  went  up  and  the  continuation  of  the  war  was 
demanded  by  acclaim  as  a  condition  indispensable  to  the 
country's  existence.  Even  with  no  hope  of  victory  Paris  must 
defend  herself  in  order  that  France  might  live. 

On  a  Sunday  toward  the  end  of  September  Maurice  was 
detailed  to  carry  a  message  to  the  further  end  of  the  city,  and 
what  he  witnessed  along  the  streets  he  passed  through  filled 
him  with  new  hope.  Ever  since  the  defeat  of  Chatillon  it  ha'd 
seemed  to  him  that  the  courage  of  the  people  was  rising  to  a 
level  with  the  great  task  that  lay  before  them.  Ah  !  that  Paris 
that  he  had  known  so  thoughtless,  so  wayward,  so  keen  in  the 
pursuit  of  pleasure  ;  he  found  it  now  quite  changed,  simple, 
earnest,  cheerfully  brave,  ready  for  every  sacrifice.  Everyone 
was  in  uniform  ;  there  was  scarce  a  head  that  was  not  decorated 
with  the  kepi  of  the  National  Guard.  Business  of  every  sort 
had  come  to  a  sudden  standstill,  as  the  hands  of  a  watch 
cease  to  move  when  the  mainspring  snaps,  and  at  the  public 
meetings,  among  the  soldiers  in  the  guard-room,  or  where  the 
crowds  collected  in  the  streets,  there  was  but  one  subject  of 
conversation,  inflaming  the  hearts  and  minds  of  all — the  de- 
termination to  conquer.  The  contagious  influence  of  illusion, 
scattered  broadcast,  unbalanced  weaker  minds  ;  the  people 
were  tempted  to  acts  of  generous  folly  by  the  tension  to  which 
they  were  subjected.  Already  there  was  a  taint  of  morbid, 
nervous  excitability  in  the  air,  a  feverish  condition  in  which 
men's  hopes  and  fears  alike  became  distorted  and  exaggerated, 
arousing  the  worst  passions  of  humanity  at  the  slightest  breath 
of  suspicion.  And  Maurice  was  witness  to  a  scene  in  the  Rue 
des  Martyrs  that  produced  a  profound  impression  on  him; 
the  assault  made  by  a  band  of  infuriated  men  on  a  house  from 


THE  DOWNFALL.  507 

which,  at  one  of  the  upper  windows,  a  bright  light  had  been 
displayed  all  through  the  night,  a  signal,  evidently,  intended  to 
reach  the  Prussians  at  Bellevue  over  the  roofs  of  Paris.  There 
were  jealous  citizens  who  spent  all  their  nights  on  their  house- 
tops, watching  what  was  going  on  around  them.  The  day  before 
a  poor  wretch  had  had  a  narrow  escape  from  drowning  at  the 
hands  of  the  mob,  merely  because  he  had  opened  a  map  of  the 
city  on  a  bench  in  the.Tuileries  gardens  and  consulted  it. 

And  that  epidemic  of  suspicion  Maurice,  who  had  always 
hitherto  been  so  liberal  and  fair-minded,  now  began  to  feel  the 
influence  of  in  the  altered  views  he  was  commencing  to  enter- 
tain concerning  men  and  things.  He  had  ceased  to  give  way 
to  despair,  as  he  had  done  after  the  rout  at  Chatillon,  when  he 
doubted  whether  the  French  army  would  ever  muster  up  suffi- 
cient manhood  to  fight  again  :  the  sortie  of  the  3oth  of  Sep- 
tember on  1'Hay  and  Chevilly,  that  of  the  i3th  of  October,  in 
which  the  mobiles  gained  possession  of  Bagneux,  and  finally 
that  of  October  21,  when  his  regiment  captured  and  held  for 
some  time  the  park  of  la  Malmaison,  had  restored  to  him  all 
his  confidence,  that  flame  of  hope  that  a  spark  sufficed  to  light 
and  was  extinguished  as  quickly.  It  was"  true  the  Prussians 
had  repulsed  them  in  every  direction,  but  for  all  that  the 
troops  had  fought  bravely  ;  they  might  yet  be  victorious  in  the 
end.  It  was  Paris  now  that  was  responsible  for  the  young 
man's  gloomy  forebodings,  that  great  fickle  city  that  at  one 
moment  was  cheered  by  bright  illusions  and  the  next  was  sunk 
in  deepest  despair,  ever  haunted  by  the  fear  of  treason  in  its 
thirst  for  victory.  Did  it  not  seem  as  if  Trochu  and  Ducrot 
were  treading  in  the  footsteps  of  the  Emperor  and  Marshal 
MacMahon  and  about  to  prove  themselves  incompetent  lead- 
ers, the  unconscious  instruments  of  their  country's  ruin  ?  The 
same  movement  that  had  swept  away  the  Empire  was  now 
threatening  the  Government  of  National  Defense,  a  fierce  long- 
ing of  the  extremists  to  place  themselves  in  control  in  order 
that  they  might  save  France  by  the  methods  of  '92  ;  even  now 
Jules  Favre  and  his  co- members  were  more  unpopular  than 
the  old  ministers  of  Napoleon  III.  had  ever  been.  Since  they 
would  not  fight  the  Prussians,  they  would  do  well  to  make  way 
for  others,  for  those  revolutionists  who  saw  an  assurance  of 
victory  in  decreeing  the  levee  en  masse,  in  lending  an  ear  to 
those  visionaries  who  proposed  to  mine  the  earth  beneath  the 
Prussians'  feet,  or  annihilate  them  all  by  means  of  a.  new  fash- 
ioned Greek  fire, 


508  THE  DOWNFALL. 

Just  previous  to  the  3ist  of  October  Maurice  was  more 
than  usually  a  victim  to  this  malady  of  distrust  and  barren 
speculation.  He  listened  now  approvingly  to  crude  fancies 
that  would  formerly  have  brought  a  smile  of  contempt  to  his 
lips.  Why  should  he  not  ?  Were  not  imbecility  and  crime 
abroad  in  the  land  ?  Was  it  unreasonable  to  look  for  the  mir- 
aculous when  his  world  was  falling  in  ruins  about  him  ?  Ever 
since  the  time  he  first  heard  the  tidings  of  Froeschwiller, 
down  there  in  front  of  Miilhausen,  he  had  harbored  a  deep- 
seated  feeling  of  rancor  in  his  breast  ;  he  suffered  from  Sedan 
as  from  a  raw  sore,  that  bled  afresh  with  every  new  reverse  ; 
the  memory  of  their  defeats,  with  all  the  anguish  they  en- 
tailed, was  ever  present  to  his  mind  ;  body  and  mind  enfeebled 
by  long  marches,  sleepless  nights,  and  lack  of  food,  inducing  a 
mental  torpor  that  left  them  doubtful  even  if  they  were  alive  ; 
and  the  thought  that  so  much  suffering  was  to  end  in  another 
and  an  irremediable  disaster  maddened  him,  made  of  that  cul- 
tured man  an  unreflecting  being,  scarce  higher  in  the  scale 
than  a  very  little  child,  swayed  by  each  passing  impulse  of  the 
moment.  Anything,  everything,  destruction,  extermination, 
rather  than  pay  a  penny  of  French  money  or  yield  an  inch  of 
French  soil  \  The  revolution  that  since  the  first  reverse  had 
been  at  work  within  him,  sweeping  away  the  legend  of  Napo- 
leonic glory,  the  sentimental  Bonapartism  that  he  owed  to  the 
epic  narratives  of  his  grandfather,  was  now  complete.  He 
had  ceased  to  be  a  believer  in  Republicanism,  pure  and  sim- 
ple, considering  the  remedy  not  drastic  enough  ;  he  had  begun 
to  dabble  in  the  theories  of  the  extremists,  he  was  a  believer 
in  the  necessity  of  the  Terror  as  the  only  means  of  ridding 
them  of  the  traitors  and  imbeciles  who  were  about  to  slay  the 
country.  And  so  it  was  that  he  was  heart  and  soul  with  the 
insurgents  when,  on  the  3ist  of  October,  tidings  of  disaster 
came  pouring  in  on  them  in  quick  succession  :  the  loss  of 
Bourget,  that  had  been  captured  from  the  enemy  only  a  few 
days  before  by  a  dashing  surprise  ;  M.  Thiers'  return  to  Ver- 
sailles from  his  visit  to  the  European  capitals,  prepared  to 
treat  for  peace,  so  it  was  said,  in  the  name  of  Napoleon  III.; 
and  finally  the  capitulation  of  Metz,  rumors  of  which  had  pre- 
viously been  current  and  which  was  now  confirmed,  the  last 
blow  of  the  bludgeon,  another  Sedan,  only  attended  by  cir- 
cumstances of  blacker  infamy.  And  when  he  learned  next 
day  the  occurrences  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville — how  the  insurgents 
had  been  for  a  brief  time  successful,  how  the  members  of  the 


THE  DOWNFALL.  509 

Government  of  National  Defense  had  been  made  prisoners 
and  held  until  four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  how  finally  the 
fickle  populace,  swayed  at  one  moment  by  detestation  for  the 
ministers  and  at  the  next  terrified  by  the  prospect  of  a  suc- 
cessful revolution,  had  released  them — he  was  filled  with  regret 
at  the  miscarriage  of  the  attempt,  at  the  non-success  of  the 
Commune,  which  might  have  been  their  salvation,  calling  the 
people  to  arms,  warning  them  of  the  country's  danger,  arous- 
ing the  cherished  memories  of  a  nation  that  wills  it  will  not 
perish.  Thiers  did  not  dare  even  to  set  his  foot  in  Paris, 
where  there  was  some  attempt  at  illumination  to  celebrate  the 
failure  of  the  negotiations. 

The  month  of  November  was  to  Maurice  a  period  of  fever- 
ish expectancy.  There  were  some  conflicts  of  no  great  im- 
portance, in  which  he  had  no  share.  His  regiment  was  in  can- 
tonments at  the  time  in  the  vicinity  of  Saint-Ouen,  whence  he 
made  his  escape  as  often  as  he  could  to  satisfy  his  craving  for 
news.  Paris,  like  him,  was  awaiting  the  issue  of  events  in 
eager  suspense.  The  election  of  municipal  officers  seemed  to 
have  appeased  political  passion  for  the  time  being,  but  a  cir- 
cumstance that  boded  no  good  for  the  future  was  that  those 
elected  were  rabid  adherents  of  one  or  another  party.  And 
what  Paris  was  watching  and  praying  for  in  that  interval  of  re- 
pose was  the  grand  sortie  that  was  to  bring  them  victory  and 
deliverance.  As  it  had  always  been,  so  it  was  now  ;  confi- 
dence reigned  everywhere  :  they  would  drive  the  Prussians 
from  their  position,  would  pulverize  them,  annihilate  them. 
Great  preparations  were  being  made  in  the  peninsula  of  Genne- 
villiers,  the  point  where  there  was  most  likelihood  of  the  op- 
eration being  attended  with  success.  Then  one  morning  came 
the  joyful  tidings  of  the  victory  at  Coulmiers  ;  Orleans  was 
recaptured,  the  army  of  the  Loire  was  marching  to  the  relief 
of  Paris,  was  even  then,  so  it  was  reported,  in  camp  at 
Etampes.  The  aspect  of  affairs  was  entirely  changed  :  all  they 
had  to  do  now  was  to  go  and  effect  a  junction  with  it  beyond 
the  Marne.  There  had  been  a  general  reorganization  of  the 
forces  ;  three  armies  had  been  created,  one  composed  of  the 
battalions  of  National  Guards  and  commanded  by  General 
Clement  Thomas, another,  comprising  the  i3th  and  i4th  corps, 
to  which  were  added  a  few  reliable  regiments,  selected  indis- 
criminately wherever  they  could  be  found,  was  to  form  the 
main  column  of  attack  under  the  lead  of  General  Ducrot,  while 
the  third,  intended  to  act  as  a  reserve,  was  made  up  entirely 


510  THE  DOWNFALL. 

of  mobiles  and  turned  over  to  General  Vinoy.  And  when 
Maurice  laid  him  down  to  sleep  in  the  wood  of  Vincennes  on 
the  night  of  the  28th  of  November,  with  his  comrades  of  the 
ii5th,  he  was  without  a  doubt  of  their  success.  The  three 
corps  of  the  second  army  were  all  there,  and  it  was  common 
talk  that  their  junction  with  the  army  of  the  Loire  had  been 
fixed  for  the  following  day  at  Fontainebleau.  Then  ensued  a 
series  of  mischances,  the  usual  blunders  arising  from  want  of 
foresight;  a  sudden  rising  of  the  river,  which  prevented  the 
engineers  from  laying  the  pontoon  bridge;  conflicting  orders, 
which  delayed  the  movement  of  the  troops.  The  ii5th  was 
among  the  first  regiments  to  pass  the  river  on  the  following 
night,  and  in  the  neighborhood  of  ten  o'clock,  with  Maurice  in 
its  ranks,  it  entered  Champigny  under  a  destructive  fire.  The 
young  man  was  wild  with  excitement  ;  he  fired  so  rapidly  that 
his  chassepot  burned  his  fingers,  notwithstanding  the  intense 
cold.  His  sole  thought  was  to.  push  onward,  ever  onward, 
surmounting  every  obstacle  until  they  should  join  their  broth- 
ers from  the  provinces  over  there  across  the  river.  But  in 
front  of  Champigny  and  Bry  the  army  fell  up  against  the 
park  walls  of  Cceuilly  and  Villiers,  that  the  Prussians  had  con- 
verted into  impregnable  fortresses,  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  in  length.  The  men's  courage  faltered,  and  after  that 
the  action  went  on  in  a  half-hearted  way  ;  the  3d  corps  was 
slow  in  getting  up,  the  ist  and  2d,  unable  to  advance, 
continued  for  two  days  longer  to  hold  Champigny,  which  they 
finally  abandoned  on  the  night  of  December  2,  after  their 
barren  victory.  The  whole  army  retired  to  the  wood  of  Vin- 
cennes, where  the  men's  only  shelter  was  the  snow-laden 
branches  of  the  trees,  and  Maurice,  whose  feet  were  frost-bit- 
ten, laid  his  head  upon  the  cold  ground  and  cried. 

The  gloom  and  dejection  that  reigned  in  the  city,  after  the 
failure  of  that  supreme  effort,  beggars  the  powers  of  descrip- 
tion. The  great  sortie  that  had  been  so  long  in  preparation, 
the  irresistible  eruption  that  was  to  be  the  deliverance  of 
Paris,  had  ended  in  disappointment,  and  three  days  later 
came  a  communication  from  General  von  Moltke  under  a  flag 
of  truce,  announcing  that  the  army  of  the  Loire  had  been 
defeated  and  that  the  German  flag  again  waved  over  Orleans. 
The  girdle  was  being  drawn  tighter  and  tighter  about  the 
doomed  city,  all  whose  struggles  were  henceforth  powerless 
to  burst  its  iron  fetters.  But  Paris  seemed  to  accumulate 
fresh  powers  of  resistance  jn  the  delirium  of  its  despair,  It 


THE  DOWNFALL.  51 1 

was  certain  that  ere  long  they  would  have  to  count  famine 
among  the  number  of  their  foes.  As  early  as  October  the 
people  had  been  restricted  in  their  consumption  of  butcher's 
meat,  and  in  December,  of  all  the  immense  herds  of  beeves  and 
flocks  of  sheep  that  had  been  turned  loose  in  the  Bois  de 
Boulogne,  there  was  not  a  single  creature  left  alive,  and  horses 
were  being  slaughtered  for  food.  The  stock  of  flour  and 
wheat,  with  what  was  subsequently  taken  for  the  public  use 
by  forced  sale,  it  was  estimated  would  keep  the  city  supplied 
with  bread  for  four  months.  When  the  flour  was  all  con- 
sumed mills  were  erected  in  the  railway  stations  to  grind  the 
grain.  The  supply  of  coal,  too,  was  giving  out  ;  it  was  re- 
served to  bake  the  bread  and  for  use  in  the  mills  and  arms 
factories.  And  Paris,  her  streets  without  gas  and  lighted  by 
petroleum  lamps  at  infrequent  intervals;  Paris,  shivering 
under  her  icy  mantle;  Paris,  to  whom  the  authorities  doled  out 
her  scanty  daily  ration  of  black  bread  and  horse  flesh,  con- 
tinued to  hope  in  spite  of  all,  talking  of  Faidherbe  in  the 
north,  of  Chanzy  on  the  Loire,  of  Bourbaki  in  the  east,  as  if 
their  victorious  armies  were  already  beneath  the  walls.  The 
men  and  women  who  stood  waiting,  their  feet  in  snow  and 
slush,  in  interminable  lines  before  the  bakers'  and  butchers' 
shops,  brightened  up  a  bit  at  times  at  the  news  of  some 
imaginary  success  of  the  army.  After  the  discouragement  of 
each  defeat  the  unquenchable  flame  of  their  illusion  would 
burst  out  and  blaze  more  brightly  than  ever  among  those 
wretched  people,  whom  starvation  and  every  kind  of  suffering 
had  rendered  almost  delirious.  A  soldier  on  the  Place  du 
Chateau  d'Eau  having  spoken  of  surrender,  the  by-standers 
mobbed  and  were  near  killing  him.  While  the  army,  its  en- 
durance exhausted,  feeling  the  end  was  near,  called  for  peace, 
the  populace  clamored  still  for  the  sortie  en  masse,  the  torren- 
tial sortie,  in  which  the  entire  population  of  the  capital,  men, 
women,  and  children,  even,  should  take  part,  rushing  upon 
the  Prussians  like  water  from  a  broken  dyke  and  overwhelm- 
ing them  by  sheer  force  of  numbers. 

And  Maurice  kept  himself  apart  from  his  comrades,  with  an 
ever-increasing  disgust  for  the  life  and  duties  of  a  soldier, 
that  condemned  him  to  inactivity  and  uselessness  behind  the 
ramparts  of  Mont-Valerien.  He  grasped  every  occasion  to 
get  away  and  hasten  to  Paris,  where  his  heart  was.  It  was  in 
the  midst  of  the  great  city's  thronging  masses  alone  that  he 
found  rest  and  peace  of  mind;  he  tried  to  forcej himself  to 


5*2  THE  DOWNFALL. 

hope  as  they  hoped.  He  often  went  to  witness  the  departure 
of  the  balloons,  which  were  sent  up  every  other  day  from 
the  station  of  the  Northern  Railway  with  a  freight  of  de- 
spatches and  carrier-pigeons.  They  rose  when  the  ropes  were 
cast  loose  and  soon  were  lost  to  sight  in  the  cheerless  wintry 
sky,  and  all  hearts  were  filled  with  anguish  when  the  wind 
wafted  them  in  the  direction  of  the  German  frontier.  Many 
of  them  were  never  heard  of  more.  He  had  himself  twice 
written  to  his  sister  Henriette,  without  ever  learning  if  she  had 
received  his  letters.  The  memory  of  his  sister  and  of  Jean, 
living  as  they  did  in  that  outer,  shadowy  world  from  which  no 
tidings  ever  reached  him  now,  was  become  so  blurred  and 
faint  that  he  thought  of  them  but  seldom,  as  of  affections  that 
he  had  left  behind  him  in  some  previous  existence.  The  in- 
cessant conflict  of  despair  and  hope  in  which  he  lived  occupied 
all  the  faculties  of  his  being  too  fully  to  leave  room  for  mere 
human  feelings.  Then,  too,  in  the  early  days  of  January  he 
was  goaded  to  the  verge  of  frenzy  by  the  action  of  the  enemy 
in  shelling  the  district  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river.  He  had 
come  to  credit  the  Prussians  with  reasons  of  humanity  for 
their  abstention,  which  was  in  fact  due  simply  to  the  difficul- 
ties they  experienced  in  bringing  up  their  guns  and  getting 
them  in  position.  Now  that  a  shell  had  killed  two  little  girls 
at  the  Val-de-Grace,  his  scorn  and  hatred  knew  no  bounds  for 
those  barbarous  ruffians  who  murdered  little  children  and 
threatened  to  burn  the  libraries  and  museums.  After  the  first 
days  of  terror,  however,  Paris  had  resumed  its  life  of  dogged, 
unfaltering  heroism. 

Since  the  reverse  of  Champigny  there  had  been  but  one 
other  attempt,  ending  in  disaster  like  the  rest,  in  the  direction 
of  Bourget;  and  the  evening  when  the  plateau  of  Avron  was 
evacuated,  under  the  fire  of  the  heavy  siege  artillery  battering 
away  at  the  forts,  Maurice  was  a  sharer  in  the  rage  and  exas- 
peration that  possessed  the  entire  city.  The  growing  unpop- 
ularity that  threatened  to  hurl  from  power  General  Trochu 
and  the  Government  of  National  Defense  was  so  augmented 
by  this  additional  repulse  that  they  were  compelled  to  attempt 
a  supreme  and  hopeless  effort.  What,  did  they  refuse  the 
services  of  the  three  hundred  thousand  National  Guards,  who 
from  the  beginning  had  been  demanding  their  share  in  the 
peril  and  in  the  victory  !  This  time  it  was  to  be  the  torrential 
sortie  that  had  all  along  been  the  object  of  the  popular  clamor; 
Paris  was  to  throw  open  its  dikes  and  drown  the  Prussians 


THE  DOWNFALL.  513 

beneath  the  on-pouring  waves  of  its  children.  Notwithstand- 
ing the  certainty  of  a  fresh  defeat,  there  was  no  way  of  avoid- 
ing a  demand  that  had  its  origin  in  such  patriotic  motives;  but 
in  order  to  limit  the  slaughter  as  far  as  possible,  the  chiefs 
determined  to  employ,  in  connection  with  the  regular  army, 
only  the  fifty-nine  mobilized  battalions  of  the  National  Guard. 
The  day  preceding  the  igth  of  January  resembled  some  great 
public  holiday  ;  an  immense  crowd  gathered  on  the  boule- 
vards and  in  the  Champs-Elyse'es  to  witness  the  departing 
regiments,  which  marched  proudly  by,  preceded  by  their 
bands,  the  men  thundering  out  patriotic  airs.  Women  and 
children  followed  them  along  the  sidewalk,  men  climbed  on  the 
benches  to  wish  them  Godspeed.  The  next  morning  the 
entire  population  of  the  city  hurried  out  to  the  Arc  de 
Triomphe,  and  it  was  almost  frantic  with  delight  when  at  an 
early  hour  news  came  of  the  capture  of  Montretout  ;  the  tales 
that  were  told  of  the  gallant  behavior  of  the  National  Guard 
sounded  like  epics ;  the  Prussians  had  been  beaten  all  along 
the  line,  the  French  would  occupy  Versailles  before  night. 
As  a  natural  result  the  consternation  was  proportionately  great 
when,  at  nightfall,  the  inevitable  defeat  became  known. 
While  the  left  wing  was  seizing  Montretout  the  center,  which 
had  succeeded  in  carrying  the  outer  wall  of  Buzanval  Park, 
had  encountered  a  second  inner  wall,  before  which  it  broke. 
A  thaw  had  set  in,  the  roads  were  heavy  from  the  effects  of  a 
fine,  drizzling  rain,  and  the  guns,  those  guns  that  had  been 
cast  by  popular  subscription  and  were  to  the  Parisians  as  the 
apple  of  their  eye,  could  not  get  up.  On  the  right  General 
Ducrot's  column  was  tardy  in  getting  into  action  and  saw 
nothing  of  the  fight.  Further  effort  was  useless,  and  General 
Trochu  was  compelled  to  order  a  retreat.  Montretout  was 
abandoned,  and  Saint-Cloud  as  well,  which  the  Prussians 
burned,  and  when  it  became  fully  dark  the  horizon  of  Paris 
was  illuminated  by  the  conflagration. 

Maurice  himself  this  time  felt  that  the  end  was  come.  For 
four  hours  he  had  remained  in  the  park  of  Buzanval  with  the 
National  Guards  under  the  galling  fire  from  the  Prussian  in- 
trenchments,  and  later,  when  he  got  back  to  the  city,  he 
spoke  of  their  courage  in  the  highest  terms.  It  was  undis- 
puted that  the  Guards  fought  bravely  on  that  occasion  ;  after 
that  was  it  not  self-evident  that  all  the  disasters  of  the  army 
were  to  be  attributed  solely  to  the  imbecility  and  treason  of 
its  leaders  ?  In  the  Rue  de  Rivoli  he  encountered  bands  of 


514  THE  DOWNFALL. 

men  shouting:  "Hurrah  for  the  Commune  !  down  with  Trochu!  " 
It  was  the  leaven  of  revolution  beginning  to  work  again  in  the 
popular  mind,  a  fresh  outbreak  of  public  opinion,  and  so  for- 
midable this  time  that  the  Government  of  National  Defense, 
in  order  to  preserve  its  own  existence,  thought  it  necessary  to 
compel  General  Trochu's  resignation  and  put  General  Vinoy 
in  his  place.  On  that  same  day  Maurice,  chancing  to  enter 
a  hall  in  Belleville  where  a  public  meeting  was  going  on,  again 
heard  the  levee  en  masse  demanded  with  clamorous  shouts. 
He  knew  the  thing  to  be  chimerical,  and  yet  it  set  his  heart  a- 
beating  more  rapidly  to  see  such  a  determined  will  to  con- 
quer. When  all  is  ended,  is  it  not  left  us  to  attempt  the  im- 
possible ?  All  that  night  he  dreamed  of  miracles. 

Then  a  long  week  went  by,  during  which  Paris  lay  agoniz- 
ing without  a  murmur.  The  shops  had  ceased  to  open  their 
doors  ;  in  the  lonely  streets  the  infrequent  wayfarer  never  met 
a  carriage.  Forty  thousand  horses  had  been  eaten  ;  dogs,  cats 
and  rats  were  now  luxuries,  commanding  a  high  price.  Ever 
since  the  supply  of  wheat  had  given  out  the  bread  was  made 
from  rice  and  oats,  and  was  black,  damp,  and  slimy,  and  hard 
to  digest  ;  to  obtain  the  ten  ounces  that  constituted  a  day's 
ration  involved  a  wait,  often  of  many  hours,  in  line  before  the 
bake-house.  Ah,  the  sorrowful  spectacle  it  was,  to  see  those 
poor  women  shivering  in  the  pouring  rain,  their  feet  in  the 
ice-cold  mud  and  water  !  the  misery  and  heroism  of  the  great 
city  that  would  not  surrender  !  The  death  rate  had  increased 
threefold ;  the  theaters  were  converted  into  hospitals.  As 
soon  as  it  became  dark  the  quarters  where  luxury  and  vice 
had  formerly  held  carnival  were  shrouded  in  funereal  blackness, 
like  the  faubourgs  of  some  accursed  city,  smitten  by  pestilence. 
And  in  that  silence,  in  that  obscurity,  naught  was  to  be  heard 
save  the  unceasing  roar  of  the  cannonade  and  the  crash  of 
bursting  shells,  naught  to  be  seen  save  the  red  flash  of  the  guns 
illuminating  the  wintry  sky. 

On  the  28th  of  January  the  news  burst  on  Paris  like  a 
thunderclap  that  for  the  past  two  days  negotiations  had  been 
going  on,  between  Jules  Favre  and  M.  von  Bismarck,  looking 
to  an  armistice,  and  at  the  same  time  it  learned  that  there  was 
bread  for  only  ten  days  longer,  a  space  of  time  that  would 
hardly  suffice  to  revictual  the  city.  Capitulation  was  become 
a  matter  of  material  necessity.  Paris,  stupefied  by  the  hard 
truths  that  were  imparted  to  it  at  that  late  day,  remained 
^sullenly  silent  and  made  no  sign.  Midnight  of  that  day  heard 


THE  DOWNFALL.  515 

the  last  shot  from  the  German  guns,  and  on  the  2gtb,  when 
the  Prussians  had  taken  possession  of  the  forts,  Maurice  went 
with  his  regiment  into  the  camp  that  was  assigned  them  over  by 
Montrouge,  within  the  fortifications.  The  life  that  he  led  there 
was  an  aimless  one,  made  up  of  idleness  and  feverish  unrest. 
Discipline  was  relaxed  ;  the  soldiers  did  pretty  much  as  they 
pleased,  waiting  in  inactivity  to  be  dismissed  to  their  homes. 
He,  however,  continued  to  hang  around  the  camp  in  a  semi- 
dazed  condition,  moody,  nervous,  irritable,  prompt  to  take 
offense  on  the  most  trivial  provocation.  He  read  with  avidity 
all  the  revolutionary  newspapers  he  could  lay  hands  on  ;  that 
three  weeks'  armistice,  concluded  solely  for  the  purpose  of 
allowing  France  to  elect  an  assembly  that  ^should  ratify  the 
conditions  of  peace,  appeared  to  him  a  delusion  and  a  snare, 
another  and  a  final  instance  of  treason.  Even  if  Paris  were 
forced  to  capitulate,  he  was  with  Gambetta  for  the  prosecution 
of  the  war  in  the  north  and  on  the  line  of  the  Loire.  He  over- 
flowed with  indignation  at  the  disaster  of  Bourbaki's  army  in 
the  east,  which  had  been  compelled  to  throw  itself  into  Switzer- 
land, and  the  result  of  the  elections  made  him  furious  :  it 
would  be  just  as  he  had  always  predicted  ;  the  base,  cowardly 
provinces,  irritated  by  Paris'  protracted  resistance,  would  in- 
sist on  peace  at  any  price  and  restore  the  monarchy  while  the 
Prussian  guns  were  still  directed  on  the  city.  After  the  first 
sessions,  at  Bordeaux,  Thiers,  elected  in  twenty-six  departments 
and  constituted  by  unanimous  acclaim  the  chief  executive, 
appeared  to  his  eyes  a  monster  of  iniquity,  the  father  of  lies, 
a  man  capable  of  every  crime.  The  terms  of  the  peace  con- 
cluded by  that  assemblage  of  monarchists  seemed  to  him  to 
put  the  finishing  touch  to  their  infamy,  his  blood  boiled  merely 
at  the  thought  of  those  hard  conditions  :  an  indemnity  of  five 
milliards,  Metz  to  be  given  up,  Alsace  to  be  ceded,  France's 
blood  and  treasure  pouring  from  the  gaping  wound,  thence- 
forth incurable,  that  was  thus  opened  in  her  flank. 

Late  in  February  Maurice,  unable  to  endure  his  situation 
longer,  made  up  his  mind  he  would  desert.  A  stipulation  of 
the  treaty  provided  that  the  troops  encamped  about  Paris 
should  be  disarmed  and  returned  to  their  abodes,  but  he  did 
not  wait  to  see  it  enforced  ;  it  seemed  to  him  that  it  would 
break  his  heart  to  leave  brave,  glorious  Paris,  which  only 
famine  had  been  able  to  subdue,  and  so  he  bade  farewell  to 
army  life  and  hired  for  himself  a  small  furnished  room  next 
the  roof  of  a  tall  apartment  house  in  the  Rue  des  Orties,  «t 


516  THE  DOWNFALL. 

the  top  of  the  butte  des  Moulins,  whence  he  had  an  outlook 
over  the  immense  sea  of  roofs  from  the  Tuileries  to  the  Bastille. 
An  old  friend,  whom  he  had  known  while  pursuing  his  law 
studies,  had  loaned  him  a  hundred  francs.  In  addition  to  that 
he  had  caused  his  name  to  be  inscribed  on  the  roster  of  a 
battalion  of  National  Guards  as  soon  as  he  was  settled  in  his 
new  quarters,  and  his  pay,  thirty  sous  a  day,  would  be  enough 
to  keep  him  alive.  The  idea  of  going  to  the  country  and 
there  leading  a  tranquil  life,  unmindful  of  what  was  happening 
the  country,  filled  him  with  horror  ;  the  letters  even  that  he 
received  from  his  sister  Henriette,  to  whom  he  had  written 
immediately  after  the  armistice,  annoyed  him  by  their  tone  of 
entreaty,  their  ar4ent  solicitations  that  he  would  come  home 
to  Remilly  and  rest.  He  refused  point-blank  ;  he  would  go 
later  on  when  the  Prussians  should  be  no  longer  there. 

And  so  Maurice  went  on  leading  an  idle,  vagabondish  sort 
of  life,  in  a  state  of  constant  feverish  agitation.  He  had 
ceased  to  be  tormented  by  hunger  ;  he  devoured  the  first  white 
bread  he  got  with  infinite  gusto  ;  but  the  city  was  a  prison 
still  :  German  guards  were  posted  at  the  gates,  and  no  one  was 
allowed  to  pass  them  until  he  had  been  made  to  give  an  account 
of  himself.  There  had  been  no  resumption  of  social  life  as 
yet  ;  industry  and  trade  were  at  a  standstill ;  the  people  lived 
from  day  to  day,  watching  to  see  what  would  happen  next, 
doing  nothing,  simply  vegetating  in  the  bright  sunshine  of  the 
spring  that  was  now  coming  on  apace.  During  the  siege  there 
had  been  the  military  service  to  occupy  men's  minds  and  tire 
their  limbs,  while  now  the  entire  population,  isolated  from  all 
the  world,  had  suddenly  been  reduced  to  a  state  of  utter 
stagnation,  mental  as  well  as  physical.  He  did  as  others  did, 
loitering  his  time  away  from  morning  till  night,  living  in  an 
atmosphere  that  for  months  had  been  vitiated  by  the  germs 
arising  from  the  half-crazed  mob.  He  read  the  newspapers 
and  was  an  assiduous  frequenter  of  public  meetings,  where  he 
would  often  smile  and  shrug  his  shoulders  at  the  rant  and 
fustian  of  the  speakers,  but  nevertheless  would  go  away  with 
the  most  ultra  notions  teeming  in  his  brain,  ready  to  engage 
in  any  desperate  undertaking  in  the  defense  of  what  he  con- 
sidered truth  and  justice.  And  sitting  by  the  window  in  his 
little  bedroom,  and  looking  out  over  the  city,  he  would  still 
beguile  himself  with  dreams  of  victory  ;  would  tell  himself  that 
France  and  the  Republic  might  yet  be  saved,  so  long  as  the 
treaty  of  peace  remained  unsigned. 


THE   DOWNFALL.  517 

The  ist  of  March  was  the  day  fixed  for  the  entrance  of  the 
Prussians  into  Paris,  and  a  long-drawn  howl  of  wrath  and  ex- 
ecration went  up  from  every  heart.  Maurice  never  attended 
a  meeting  now  that  he  did  not  hear  Thiers,  the  Assembly, 
even  the  men  of  September  4th  themselves,  cursed  and  re- 
viled because  they  had  not  spared  the  great  heroic  city  that 
crowning  degradation.  He  was  himself  one  night  aroused  to 
such  a  pitch  of  frenzy  that  he  took  the  floor  and  shouted  that 
it  was  the  duty  of  all  Paris  to  go  and  die  on  the  ramparts 
rather  than  suffer  the  entrance  of  a  single  Prussian.  It  was 
quite  natural  that  the  spirit  of  insurrection  should  show  itself 
thus,  should  bud  and  blossom  in  the  full  light  of  day,  among 
that  populace  that  had  first  been  maddened  by  months  of  dis- 
tress and  famine  and  then  had  found  itself  reduced  to  a  con- 
dition of  idleness  that  afforded  it  abundant  leisure  to  brood 
on  the  suspicions  and  fancied  wrongs  that  were  largely  the 
product  of  its  own  disordered  imagination.  It  was  one  of 
those  moral  crises  that  have  been  noticed  as  occurring  after 
every  great  siege,  in  which  excessive  patriotism,  thwarted  in 
its  aims  and  aspirations,  after  having  fired  men's  minds,  de- 
generates into  a  blind  rage  for  vengeance  and  destruction. 
The  Central  Committee,  elected  by  delegates  from  the  National 
Guard  battalions,  had  protested  against  any  attempt  to  dis- 
arm their  constituents.  Then  came  an  immense  popular 
demonstration  on  the  Place  de  la  Bastille,  where  there  were 
red  flags,  incendiary  speeches  and  a  crowd  that  overflowed 
the  square,  the  affair  ending  with  the  murder  of  a  poor  inof- 
fensive agent  of  police,  who  was  bound  to  a  plank,  thrown 
into  the  canal,  and  then  stoned  to  death.  And  forty-eight 
hours  later,  during  the  night  of  the  26th  of  February,  Maurice, 
awakened  by  the  beating  of  the  long  roll  and  the  sound  of  the 
tocsin,  beheld  bands  of  men  and  women  streaming  along  the 
Boulevard  des  Batignolles  and  dragging  cannon  after  them. 
He  descended  to  the  street,  and  laying  hold  of  the  rope  of  a 
gun  along  with  some  twenty  others,  was  told  how  the  people 
had  gone  to  the  Place  Wagram  and  taken  the  pieces  in  order 
that  the  Assemby  might  not  deliver  them  to  the  [Prussians. 
There  were  seventy  of  them  ;  teams  were  wanting,  but  the 
strong  arms  of  the  mob,  tugging  at  the  ropes  and  pushing  at 
the  limbers  and  axles,  finally  brought  them  to  the  summit  of 
Montmartre  with  the  mad  impetuosity  of  a  barbarian  horde 
assuring  the  safety  of  its  idols.  When  on  March  i  the  Prus- 
sians took  possession  of  the  quarter  of  the  Champs  Elysees, 


518  THE  DOWNFALL. 

which  they  were  to  occupy  only  for  one  day,  keeping  them- 
selves strictly  within  the  limits  of  the  barriers,  Paris  looked  on 
in  sullen  silence,  its  streets  deserted,  its  houses  closed,  the 
entire  city  lifeless  and  shrouded  in  its  dense  veil  of  mourning. 

Two  weeks  more  went  by,  during  which  Maurice  could 
hardly  have  told  how  he  spent  his  time  while  awaiting  the 
approach  of  the  momentous  events  of  which  he  had  a  distinct 
presentiment.  Peace  was  concluded  definitely  at  last,  the 
Assembly  was  to  commence  its  regular  sessions  at  Versailles 
on  the  2oth  of  the  month  ;  and  yet  for  him  nothing  was  con- 
cluded :  he  felt  that  they  were  ere  long  to  witness  the  beginning 
of  a  dreadful  drama  of  atonement.  On  the  i8th  of  March,  as 
he  was  about  to  leave  his  room,  he  received  a  letter  from 
Henriette  urging  him  to  come  and  join  her  at  Remilly,  coupled 
with  a  playful  threat  that  she  would  come  and  carry  him  off 
with  her  if  he  delayed  too  long  to  afford  her  that  great  pleasure. 
Then  she  went  on  to  speak  of  Jean,  concerning  whose  affairs 
she  was  extremely  anxious  ;  she  told  how,  after  leaving  her 
late  in  December  to  join  the  Army  of  the  North,  he  had  been 
seized  with  a  low  fever  that  had  kept  him  long  a  prisoner  in  a 
Belgian  hospital,  and  only  the  preceding  week  he  had  written 
her  that  he  was  about  to  start  for  Paris,  notwithstanding  his 
enfeebled  condition,  where  he  was  determined  to  seek  active 
service  once  again.  Henriette  closed  her  letter  by  begging 
her  brother  to  give  her  a  faithful  account  of  how  matters  were 
with  Jean  as  soon  as  he  should  have  seen  him.  Maurice  laid 
the  open  letter  before  him  on  the  table  and  sank  into  a  con- 
fused revery.  Henriette,  Jean  ;  his  sister  whom  he  loved  so 
fondly,  his  brother  in  suffering  and  privation;  how  absent  from 
his  daily  thoughts  had  those  dear  ones  been  since  the  tempest 
had  been  raging  in  his  bosom  !  He  aroused  himself,  however, 
and  as  his  sister  advised  him  that  she  had  been  unable  to  give 
Jean  the  number  of  the  house  in  the  Rue  des  Orties,  promised 
himself  to  go  that  very  day  to  the  office  where  the  regimental 
records  were  kept  and  hunt  up  his  friend.  But  he  had  barely 
got  beyond  his  door  and  was  crossing  the  Rue  Saint-Honore 
when  he  encountered  two  fellow-soldiers  of  his  battalion,  who 
gave  him  an  account  of  what  had  happened  that  morning  and 
during  the  night  before  at  Montmartre,  and  the  three  men 
started  off  on  a  run  toward  the  scene  of  the  disturbance. 

Ah,  that  day  of  the  i8th  of  March,  the  elation  and  enthu- 
siasm that  it  aroused  in  Maurice  !  In  after  days  he  could  never 
remember  clearly  what  he  said  and  did.  First  he  beheld  him- 


THE  DOWNFALL.  519 

self  dimly,  as  through  a  veil  of  mist,  convulsed  with  rage  at 
the  recital  of  how  the  troops  had  attempted,  in  the  darkness 
and  quiet  that  precedes  the  dawn,  to  disarm  Paris  by  seizing 
the  guns  on  Montmartre  heights.  It  was  evident  that  Thiers, 
who  had  arrived  from  Bordeaux,  had  been  meditating  the  blow 
for  the  last  two  days,  in  order  that  the  Assembly  at  Versailles 
might  proceed  without  fear  to  proclaim  the  monarchy.  Then 
the  scene  shifted,  and  he  was  on  the  ground  at  Montmartre 
itself — about  nine  o'clock  it  was — fired  by  the  narrative  of  the 
people's  victory :  how  the  soldiery  had  come  sneaking  up  in 
the  darkness,  how  the  delay  in  bringing  up  the  teams  had 
given  the  National  Guards  an  opportunity  to  fly  to  arms,  the 
troops,  having  no  heart  to  fire  on  women  and  children,  revers- 
ing their  muskets  and  fraternizing  with  the  people.  Then  he 
had  wandered  desultorily  about  the  city,  wherever  chance 
directed  his  footsteps,  and  by  midday  had  satisfied  himself 
that  the  Commune  was  master  of  Paris,  without  even  the  neces- 
sity of  striking  a  blow,  for  Thiers  and  the  ministers  had  de-x 
camped  from  their  quarters  in  the  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs, 
the  entire  government  was  flying  in  disorder  to  Versailles,  the 
thirty  thousand  troops  had  been  hastily  conducted  from  the 
city,  leaving  more  than  five  thousand  deserters  from  their 
numbers  along  the  line  of  their  retreat.  And  later,  about 
half-past  five  in  the  afternoon,  he  could  recall  being  at  a  corner 
of  the  exterior  boulevard  in  the  midst  of  a  mob  of  howling 
lunatics,  listening  without  the  slightest  evidence  of  disapproval 
to  the  abominable  story  of  the  murder  of  Generals  Lecomte 
and  Clement  Thomas.  Generals,  they  called  themselves ; 
fine  generals,  they !  the  leaders  they  had  had  at  Sedan  rose 
before  his  memory,  voluptuaries  and  imbeciles  ;  one  more,  one 
less,  what  odds  did  it  make  !  And  the  remainder  of  the  day 
passed  in  the  same,  state  of  half-crazed  excitement,  which 
served  to  distort  everything  to  his  vision  ;  it  was  an  insurrec- 
tion that  the  very  stones  of  the  streets  seemed  to  have  favored, 
spreading,  swelling,  finally  becoming  master  of  all  at  a  stroke 
in  the  unforeseen  fatality  of  its  triumph,  and  at  ten- o'clock  in 
the  evening  delivering  the  Hotel  de  Ville  over  to  the  members 
of  the  Central  Committee,  who  were  greatly  surprised  to  find 
themselves  there. 

There  was  one  memory,  however,  that  remained  very  dis- 
tinct to  Maurice's  mind  :  his  unexpected  meeting  with  Jean. 
It  was  three  days  now  since  the  latter  had  reached  Paris,  with- 
out a  sou  in  his  pocket,  emaciated  and  enfeebled  by  the  ill. 


$20  THE  DOWNFALL. 

ness  that  had  consigned  him  to  a  hospital  in  Brussels  and 
kept  him  there  two  months,  and  having  had  the  luck  to  fall  in 
with  Captain  Ravaud,  who  had  commanded  a  company  in  the 
io6th,  he  had  enlisted  at  once  in  his  former  acquaintance's 
new  company  in  the  i24th.  His  old  rank  as  corporal  had 
been  restored  to  him,  and  that  evening  he  had  just  left  the 
Prince  Eugene  barracks  with  his  squad  on  his  way  to  the  left 
bank,  where  the  entire  army  was  to  concentrate,  when  a  mob 
collected  about  his  men  and  stopped  them  as  they  were  pass- 
ing along  the  boulevard  Saint-Martin.  The  insurgents  yelled 
and  shouted,  and  evidently  were  preparing  to  disarm  his  little 
band.  With  perfect  coolness  he  told  them  to  let  him  alone, 
that  he  had  no  business  with  them  or  their  affairs  ;  all  he 
wanted  was  to  obey  his  orders  without  harming  anybody. 
Then  a  cry  of  glad  surprise  was  heard,  and  Maurice,  who  had 
chanced  to  pass  that  way,  threw  himself  on  the  other's  neck 
and  gave  him  a  brotherly  hug. 

"  What,  is  it  you  !  My  sister  wrote  me  about  you.  And 
just  think,  no  later  than  this  very  morning  I  was  going  to  look 
you  up  at  the  war  office  !  " 

Jean's  eyes  were  dim  with  big  tears  of  pleasure. 

"  Ah,  my  dear  lad,  how  glad  I  am  to  see  you  once  more  ! 
I  have  been  looking  for  you,  too,  but  where  could  a  fellow  ex- 
pect to  find  you  in  this  confounded  great  big  place  ?  " 

To  the  crowd,  continuing  their  angry  muttering,  Maurice 
turned  and  said  : 

"  Let  me  talk  to  them,  citizens  !  They're  good  fellows  ;  I'll 
answer  for  them."  He  took  his  friend's  hands  in  his,  and 
lowering  his  voice  :  "  You'll  join  us,  won't  you  ?  " 

Jean's  face  was  the  picture  of  surprise.  "  How,  join  you  ? 
I  don't  understand."  Then  for  a  moment  he  listened  while 
Maurice  railed  against  the  government,  against  the  army, 
raking  up  old  sores  and  recalling  all  their  sufferings,  telling 
how  at  last  they  were  going  to  be  masters,  punish  dolts  and 
cowards  and  preserve  the  Republic.  And  as  he  struggled  to 
get  the  problems  the  other  laid  before  him  through  his  brain, 
the  tranquil  face  of  the  unlettered  peasant  was  clouded  with 
an  increasing  sorrow.  "  Ah,  no  !  ah,  no  !  my  boy.  I 
can't  join  you  if  it's  for  that  fine  work  you  want  me. 
My  captain  told  me  to  go  with  my  men  to  Vaugirard,  and 
there  I'm  going.  In  spite  of  the  devil  and  his  angels  I  will 
go  there.  That's  natural  enough  ;  you  ought  to  know  how  it 
is  yourself."  He  laughed  with  frank  simplicity  and  added: 


THE  DOWNFALL.  52! 

•     "  It's  you  who'll  come  along  with  us." 

But  Maurice  released  his  hands  with  an  angry  gesture  of 
dissent,  and  thus  they  stood  for  some  seconds,  face  to  face, 
one  under  the  influence  of  that  madness  that  was  sweeping  all 
Paris  off  its  feet,  the  malady  that  had  been  bequeathed  to 
them  by  the  crimes  and  follies  of  the  late  reign,  the  other 
strong  in  his  ignorance  and  practical  common  sense,  untainted 
as  yet  because  he  had  grown  up  apart  from  the  contaminating 
principle,  in  the  land  where  industry  and  thrift  were  honored. 
They  were  brothers,  however,  none  the  less;  the  tie  that  united 
them  was  strong,  and  it  was  a  pang  to  them  both  when  the 
crowd  suddenly  surged  forward  and  parted  them. 

" Au  revoir ,  Maurice!" 

"  Au  revoir,  Jean  !  " 

It  was  a  regiment,  the  79th,  debouching  from  a  side  street, 
that  had  caused  the  movement  among  the  crowd,  forcing  the 
rioters  back  to  the  sidewalks  by  the  weight  of  its  compact 
column,  closed  in  mass.  There  was  some  hooting,  but  no  one 
ventured  to  bar  the  way  against  the  soldier  boys,  who  went 
by  at  double  time,  well  under  control  of  their  officers.  An 
opportunity  was  afforded  the  little  squad  of  the  i24th  to  make 
their  escape,  and  they  followed  in  the  wake  of  the  larger 
body. 

"  Au  revoir,  Jean  !  " 

"  Au  revoir ;  Maurice  !  " 

They  waved  their  hands  once  more  in  a  parting  salute, 
yielding  to  the  fatality  that  decreed  their  separation  in  that 
manner,  but  each  none  the  less  securely  seated  in  the  other's 
heart. 

The  extraordinary  occurrences  of  the  next  and  the  succeed- 
ing days  crowded  on  the  heels  of  one  another  in  such  swift 
sequence  that  Maurice  had  scarcely  time  to  think.  On  the 
morning  of  the  i9th  Paris  awoke  without  a  government,  more 
surprised  than  frightened  to  learn  that  a  panic  during  the 
night  had  sent  army,  ministers,  and  all  the  public  service 
scurrying  away  to  Versailles,  and  as  the  weather  happened  to 
be  fine  on  that  magnificent  March  Sunday,  Paris  stepped  un- 
concernedly down  into  the  streets  to  have  a  look  at  the  barri- 
cades. A  great  white  poster,  bearing  the  signature  of  the 
Central  Committee  and  convoking  the  people  for  the  com- 
munal elections,  attracted  attention  by  the  moderation  of  its 
language,  although  much  surprise  was  expressed  at  seeing  it 
signed  by  names  so  utterly  unknown.  There  can  be  no  doubt 


522  THE  DOWNFALL. 

that  at  this  incipient  stage  of  the  Commune  Paris,  in  the  bit-- 
ter  memory  of  what  it  had  endured,  in  the  suspicions  by  which 
it  was  haunted,  and  in  its  unslaked  thirst  for  further  righting, 
was  .against  Versailles.  It  was  a  condition  of  absolute 
anarchy,  moreover,  the  conflict  for  the  moment  being  between 
the  mayors  and  the  Central  Committee,  the  former  fruitlessly 
attempting  to  introduce  measures  of  conciliation,  while  the 
latter,  uncertain  as  yet  to  what  extent  it  could  rely  on  the 
federated  National  Guard,  continued  modestly  to  lay  claim  to 
no  higher  title  than  that  of  defender  of  the  municipal  liberties. 
The  shots  fired  against  the  pacific  demonstration  in  the  Place 
Vendome,  the  few  corpses  whose  blood  reddened  the  pave- 
ments, first  sent  a  thrill  of  terror  circulating  through  the  city. 
And  while  these  things  were  going  on,  while  the  insurgents 
were  taking  definite  possession  of  the  ministries  and  all  the 
public  buildings,  the  agitation,  rage  and  alarm  prevailing  at 
Versailles  were  extreme,  the  government  there  hastening  to 
get  together  sufficient  troops  to  repel  the  attack  which  they 
felt  sure  they  should  not  have  to  wait  for  long.  The  steadiest 
and  most  reliable  divisions  of  the  armies  of  the  North  and  of 
the  Loire  were  hurried  forward.  Ten  days  sufficed  to  collect  a 
force  of  nearly  eighty  thousand  men,  and  the  tide  of  returning 
confidence  set  in  so  strongly  that  on  the  2d  of  April  two  divi- 
sions opened  hostilities  by  taking  from  the  federates  Puteaux 
and  Courbevoie. 

It  was  not  until  the  day  following  the  events  just  mentioned 
that  Maurice,  starting  out  with  his  battalion  to  effect  the  con- 
quest of  Versailles,  beheld,  amid  the  throng  of  misty,  feverish 
memories  that  rose  to  his  poor  wearied  brain,  Jean's  melan- 
choly face  as  he  had  seen  it  last,  and  seemed  to  hear  the  tones 
of  his  last  mournful  au  revoir.  The  military  operations  of  the 
Versaillese  had  filled  the  National  Guard  with  alarm  and  in- 
dignation ;  three  columns,  embracing  a  total  strength  of  fifty 
thousand  men,  had  gone  storming  that  morning  through  Bou- 
gival  and  Meudon  on  their  way  to  seize  the  monarchical 
Assembly  and  Thiers,  the  murderer.  It  was  the  torrential 
sortie  that  had  been  demanded  with  such  insistence  dur- 
ing the  siege,  and  Maurice  asked  himself  where  he  should  ever 
see  Jean  again  unless  among  the  dead  lying  on  the  field  of 
battle  down  yonder.  But  it  was  not  long  before  he  knew  the 
result ;  his  battalion  had  barely  reached  the  Plateau  des  Ber- 
geres,  on  the  road  to  Reuil,  when  the  shells  from  Mont-Vale- 
jien  came  tumbling  among  the  ranks.  Universal  consterna- 


THE  DOWNFALL.  523 

tion  reigned  ;  some  had  supposed  that  the  fort  was  held  by 
their  comrades  of  the  Guard,  while  others  averred  that  the 
commander  had  promised  solemnly  to  withhold  his  fire.  A 
wild  panic  seized  upon  the  men  ;  the  battalions  broke  and 
rushed  back  to  Paris  fast  as  their  legs  would  let  them,  while 
the  head  of  the  column,  diverted  by  a  flanking  movement  of 
General  Vinoy,  was  driven  back  on  Reuil  and  cut  to  pieces 
there. 

Then  Maurice,  who  had  escaped  unharmed  from  the  slaugh- 
ter, his  nerves  still  quivering  with  the  fury  that  had  inspired 
him  on  the  battlefield,  was  filled  with  fresh  detestation  for 
that  so-called  government  of  law  and  order  which  always  al- 
lowed itself  to  be  beaten  by  the  Prussians,  and  could  only 
muster  up  a  little  courage  when  it  came  to  oppressing  Paris. 
And  the  German  armies  were  still  there,  from  Saint-Denis  to 
Charenton,  watching  the  shameful  spectacle  of  internecine 
conflict !  Thus,  in  the  fierce  longing  for  vengeance  and  de- 
struction that  animated  him,  he  could  not  do  otherwise  than 
sanction  the  first  measures  of  communistic  violence,  the  build- 
ing of  barricades  in  the  streets  and  public  squares,  the  arrest 
of  the  archbishop,  some  priests,  and  former  officeholders,  who 
were  to  be  held  as  hostages.  The  atrocities  that  distinguished 
either  side  in  that  horrible  conflict  were  already  beginning  to 
manifest  themselves,  Versailles  shooting  the  prisoners  it  made, 
Paris  retaliating  with  a  decree  that  for  each  one  of  its  soldiers 
murdered  three  hostages  should  forfeit  their  life.  The  horror 
of  it,  that  fratricidal  conflict,  that  wretched  nation  completing 
the  work  of  destruction  by  devouring  its  own  children  !  And 
the  little  reason  that  remained  to  Maurice,  in  the  ruin  of  all 
the  things  he  had  hitherto  held  sacred,  was  quickly  dissipated 
in  the  whirlwind  of  blind  fury  that  swept  all  before  it.  In  his 
eyes  the  Commune  was  to  be  the  avenger  of  all  the  wrongs 
they  had  suffered,  the  liberator,  coming  with  fire  and  sword  to 
purify  and  punish.  He  was  not  quite  clear  in  mind  about  it 
all,  but  remembered  having  read  how  great  and  flourishing  the 
old  free  cities  had  become,  how  wealthy  provinces  had  feder- 
ated and  imposed  their  law  upon  the  world.  If  Paris  should 
be  victorious  he  beheld  her,  crowned  with  an  aureole  of  glory, 
building  up  a  new  France,  where  liberty  and  justice  should  be 
the  watchwords,  organizing  a  new  society,  having  first  swept 
away  the  rotten  dtbris  of  the  old.  It  was  true  that  when  the 
result  of  the  elections  became  known  he  was  somewhat  sur- 
prised by  the  strange  mixture  of  moderates,  revolutionists,  and 


524  THE  DOWNFALL. 

socialists  of  every  sect  and  shade  to  whom  the  accomplish- 
ment of  the  great  work  was  intrusted  ;  he  was  acquainted  with 
several  of  the  men  and  knew  them  to  be  of  extremely  medi- 
ocre abilities.  Would  not  the  strongest  among  them  come  in 
collision  and  neutralize  one  another  amid  the  clashing  ideas 
which  they  represented  ?  But  on  the  day  when  the  ceremony 
of  the  inauguration  of  the  Commune  took  place  before  the 
Hotel  de  Ville,  amid  the  thunder  of  artillery  and  trophies  and 
red  banners  floating  in  the  air,  his  boundless  hopes  again  got 
the  better  of  his  fears  and  he  ceased  to  doubt.  Among  the 
lies  of  some  and  the  unquestioning  faith  of  others,  the  illusion 
started  into  life  again  with  renewed  vigor,  in  the  acute  crisis 
of  the  malady  raised  to  paroxysmal  pitch. 

During  the  entire  month  of  April  Maurice  was  on  duty  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Neuilly.  The  gentle  warmth  of  the  early 
spring  had  brought  out  the  blossoms  on  the  lilacs,  and  the 
righting  was  conducted  among  the  bright  verdure  of  the  gar- 
dens ;  the  National  Guards  came  into  the  city  at  night  with 
bouquets  of  flowers  stuck  in  their  muskets.  The  troops  col- 
lected at  Versailles  were  now  so  numerous  as  to  warrant  their 
formation  in  two  armies,  a  first  line  under  the  orders  of  Mar- 
shal MacMahon  and  a  reserve  commanded  by  General  Vinoy. 
The  Commune  had  nearly  a  hundred  thousand  National  Guards 
mobilized  and  as  many  more  on  the  rosters  who  could  be  called 
out  at  short  notice,  but  fifty  thousand  were  as  many  as  they 
ever  brought  into  the  field  at  one  time.  Day  by  day  the  plan  of 
attack  adopted  by  the  Versaillese  became  more  manifest:  after 
occupying  Neuilly  they  had  taken  possession  of  the  Chateau 
of  Becon  and  soon  after  of  Asnieres,  but  these  movements  were 
simply  to  make  the  investment  more  complete,  for  their  inten- 
tion was  to  enter  the  city  by  the  Point-du-Jour  soon  as  the 
converging  fire  from  Mont-Valerien  and  Fort  d'Issy  should 
enabk  them  to  carry  the  rampart  there.  Mont-Valerien  was 
theirs  already,  and  they  were  straining  every  nerve  to  capture 
Issy,  utilizing  the  works  abandoned  by  the  Germans  for  the 
purpose  Since  the  middle  of  April  the  fire  of  musketry  and 
artillery  had  been  incessant  ;  at  Levallois  and  Neuilly  the 
fighting  tiever  ceased,  the  skirmishers  blazing  away  uninter- 
ruptedly, by  night  as  well  as  by  day.  Heavy  guns,  mounted 
on  armored  cars,  moved  to  and  fro  on  the  Belt  Railway,  shell- 
ing Asnieres  over  the  roofs  of  Levallois.  It  was  at  Vanves 
and  Issy,  however,  that  the  cannonade  was  fiercest  ;  it  shook 
the  windows  of  Paris  as  the  siege  had  done  when  it  was  at  its 


THE  DOWNFALL.  5^5 

height.  And  when  finally,  on  the  Qth  of  May,  Fort  d'Issy  was 
obliged  to  succumb  and  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Versailles 
army  the  defeat  of  the  Commune  was  assured,  and  in  their 
frenzy  of  panic  the  leaders  resorted  to  most  detestable  meas- 
ures. 

Maurice  favored  the  creation  of  a  Committee  of  Public 
Safety.  The  warnings  of  history  came  to  his  mind  ;  had  not 
the  hour  struck  for  adopting  energetic  methods  if  they  wished 
to  save  the  country  ?  There  was  but  one  of  their  barbarities 
that  really  pained  him,  and  that  was  the  destruction  of  the 
Vendome  column  ;  he  reproached  himself  for  the  feeling  as 
being  a  childish  weakness,  but  his  grandfather's  voice  still 
sounded  in  his  ears  repeating  the  old  familiar  tales  of  Marengo, 
Austerlitz,  Jena,  Eylau,  Friedlaad,  Wagram,  the  Moskowa — 
those  epic  narratives  that  thrilled  his  pulses  yet  as  often  as  he 
thought  of  them.  But  that  they  should  demolish  the  house  of 
the  murderer  Thiers,  that  they  should  retain  the  hostages  as  a 
guarantee  and  a  menace,  was  not  that  right  and  just  when  the 
Versaillese  were  unchaining  their  fury  on  Paris,  bombarding 
it,  destroying  its  edifices,  slaughtering  women  and  children 
with  their  shells  ?  As  he  saw  the  end  of  his  dream  approach- 
ing dark  thoughts  of  ruin  and  destruction  filled  his  mind.  If 
their  ideas  of  justice  and  retribution  were  not  to  prevail,  if 
they  were  to  be  crushed  out  of  them  with  their  life-blood,  then 
perish  the  world,  swept  away  in  one  of  those  cosmic  upheavals 
that  are  the  beginning  of  a  new  life.  Let  Paris  sink  beneath 
the  waves,  let  it  go  up  in  smoke  and  flame,  like  a  gigantic 
funeral  pyre,  sooner  than  let  it  be  again  delivered  over  to  its 
former  state  of  vice  and  misery,  to  that  old  vicious  social  sys- 
tem of  abominable  injustice.  And -he  dreamed  another  dark, 
terrible  dream,  the  great  city  reduced  to  ashes,  naught  to  be 
seen  on  either  side  the  Seine  but  piles  of  smoldering  ruins,  the 
festering  wound  purified  and  healed  with  fire,  a  catastrophe 
without  a  name,  such  as  had  never  been  before,  whence  should 
arise  a  new  race.  Wild  stories  were  everywhere  circulated,  which 
interested  him  intensely,  of  the  mines  that  were  driven  under 
all  the  Quarters  of  the  city,  the  barrels  of  powder  with  which 
the  catacombs  were  stuffed,  the  monuments  and  public  buildings 
ready  to  be  blown  into  the  air  at  a  moment's  notice;  and  all  were 
connected  by  electric  wires  in  such -a  way  that  a  single  spark  would 
suffice  to  set  them  off;  there  were  great  stores  of  inflammable  sub- 
stances, too,  especially  petroleum,  with  which  the  streets  and 
avenues  were  to  be  converted  into  seething  lakes  of  flame.  The 


526  THE  DOWNFALL. 

Commune  had  sworn  that  should  the  Versaillese  enter  the  city 
not  one  of  them  would  ever  get  beyond  the  barricades  that  closed 
the  ends  of  the  streets  ;  the  pavements  would  yawn,  the  houses 
would  sink  in  ruins,  Paris  would  go  up  in  flames,  and  bury 
assailants  and  assailed  under  its  ashes. 

And  if  Maurice  solaced  himself  with  these  crazy  dreams,  it 
was  because  of  his  secret  discontent  with  the  Commune  itself. 
He  had  lost  all  confidence  in  its  members,  he  felt  it  was  inef- 
ficient, drawn  this  way  and  that  by  so  many  conflicting  ele- 
ments, losing  its  head  and  becoming  purposeless  and  driveling 
as  it  saw  the  near  approach  of  the  peril  with  which  it  was 
menaced.  Of  the  social  reforms  it  had  pledged  itself  to  it  had 
not  been  able  to  accomplish  a  single  one,  and  it  was  now  quite 
certain  that  it  would  leave  behind  it  no  great  work  to  perpet- 
uate its  name.  But  what  more  than  all  beside  was  gnawing  at 
its  vitals  was  the  rivalries  by  which  it  was  distracted,  the  cor- 
roding suspicion  and  distrust  in  which  each  of  its  members 
lived.  For  some  time  past  many  of  them,  the  more  moderate 
and  the  timid,  had  ceased  to  attend  its  sessions.  The  others 
shaped  their  course  day  by  day  in  accordance  with  events, 
trembling  at  the  idea  of  a  possible  dictatorship  ;  they  had 
reached  that  point  where  the  factions  of  revolutionary  assem- 
blages exterminate  one  another  by  way  of  saving  the  country. 
Cluzeret  had  become  suspected,  then  Dombrowski,  and 
Rossel  was  about  to  share  their  fate.  Delescluze,  appointed 
Civil  Delegate  at  War,  could  do  nothing  of  his  own  volition, 
notwithstanding  his  great  authority.  And  thus  the  grand  so- 
cial effort  that  they  had  had  in  view  wasted  itself  in  the  ever- 
widening  isolation  about  those  men  whose  power  had  become 
a  nullity,  whose  actions  were  the  result  of  their  despair. 

In  Paris  there  was  an  increasing  feeling  of  terror.  Paris,  ir- 
ritated at  first  against  Versailles,  shivering  at  the  recollection 
of  what  it  had  suffered  during  the  siege,  was  now  breaking 
away  from  the  Commune.  The  compulsory  enrollment,  the 
decree  incorporating  every  man  under  forty  in  the  National 
Guard,  had  angered  the  more  sedate  citizens  and  been  the 
means  of  bringing  about  a  general  exodus  :  men  in  disguise 
and  provided  with  forged  papers  of  Alsatian  citizenship  made 
their  escape  by  way  of  Saint-Denis  ;  others  let  themselves  down 
into  the  moat  in  the  darkness  of  the  night  with  ropes  and  lad- 
ders. The  wealthy  had  long  since  taken  their  departure. 
None  of  the  factories  and  workshops  had  opened  their  doors  ; 
^radeand  commerce  there  was  none  ;  there  was  no  employment 


THE  DOWNFALL.  527 

for  labor  ;  the  life  of  enforced  idleness  went  on  amid  the 
alarmed  expectancy  of  the  frightful  denouement  that  everyone 
felt  could  not  be  far  away.  And  the  people  depended  for  their 
daily  bread  on  the  pay  of  the  National  Guards,  that  dole  of 
thirty  sous  that  was  paid  from  the  millions  extorted  from  the 
Bank  of  France,  the  thirty  sous  for  the  sake  of  which  alone 
many  men  were  wearing  the  uniform,  which  had  been  one  of 
the  primary  causes  and  the  raison  d'etre  of  the  insurrection. 
''whole  districts  were  deserted,  the  shops  closed,  the  house- 
fronts  lifeless.  In  the  bright  May  sunshine  that  flooded  the 
empty  streets  the  few  pedestrians  beheld  nothing  moving  save 
the  barbaric  display  of  the  burial  of  some  federates  killed  in 
action,  the  funeral  train  where  no  priest  walked,  the  hearse 
draped  with  red  flags,  followed  by  a  crowd  of  men  and  women 
bearing  bouquets  of  immortelles.  The  churches  were  closed 
and  did  duty  each  evening  as  political  club-rooms.  The  revo- 
lutionary journals  alone  were  hawked  about  the  streets  ;  the 
others  had  been  suppressed.  Great  Paris  was  indeed  an  un- 
happy city  in  those  days,  what  with  its  republican  sympathies 
that  made  it  detest  the  monarchical  Assembly  at  Versailles  and 
its  ever-increasing  terror  of  the  Commune,  from  which  it 
prayed  most  fervently  to  be  delivered  among  all  the  grisly 
stories  that  were  current,  the  daily  arrests  of  citizens  as  host- 
ages, the  casks  of  gunpowder  that  filled  the  sewers,  where  men 
patrolled  by  day  and  night  awaiting  the  signal  to  apply  the 
torch. 

Maurice,  who  had  never  been  a  drinking  man,  allowed  him- 
self to  be  seduced  by  the  too  prevalent  habit  of  over-indul- 
gence. It  had  become  a  thing  of  frequent  occurrence  with 
him  now,  when  he  was  out  on  picket  duty  or  had  to  spend 
the  night  in  barracks,  to  take  a  "  pony"  of  brandy,  and  if 
he  took  a  second  it  was  apt  to  go  to  his  head  in  the  alcohol- 
laden  atmosphere  that  he  was  forced  to  breathe.  It  had  be- 
come epidemic,  that  chronic  drunkenness,  among  those  men 
with  whom  bread  was  scarce  and  who  could  have  all  the 
brandy  they  wanted  by  asking  for  it.  Toward  evening  on 
Sunday,  the  2ist  of  May,  Maurice  came  home  drunk,  for  the 
first  time  in  his  life,  to  his  room  in  the  Rue  des  Orties,  where 
he  was  in  the  habit  of  sleeping  occasionally.  He  had  been  at 
Neuilly  again  that  day,  blazing  away  at  the  enemy  and  taking 
a  nip  now  and  then  with  the  comrades,  to  see  if  it  would  not 
relieve  the  terrible  fatigue  from  which  he  was  suffering. 
Then,  with  a  light  head  and  heavy  legs,  he  came  and  threw 


528  THE  DOWNFALL. 

himself  on  the  bed  in  his  little  chamber  ;  it  must  have  been 
through  force  of  instinct,  for  he  could  never  remember  how 
he  got  there.  And  it  was  not  until  the  following  morning, 
when  the  sun  was  high  in  the  heavens,  that  he  awoke,  aroused 
by  the  ringing  of  the  alarm  bells,  the  blare  of  trumpets  and 
beating  of  drums.  During  the  night  the  Versaillese,  finding  a 
gate  undefended,  had  effected  an  unresisted  entrance  at  the 
Point-du-Jour. 

When  he  had  thrown  on  his  clothes  and  hastened  down  into 
the  street,  his  musket  slung  across  his  shoulder  by  the  strap, 
a  band  of  frightened  soldiers  whom  he  fell  in  with  at  the 
mairie  of  the  arrondissement  related  to  him  the  occurrences  of 
the  night,  in  the  midst  of  a  confusion  such  that  at  first  he  had 
hard  work  to  understand.  Fort  d'Issy  and  the  great  battery 
at  Montretout,  seconded  by  Mont  Valerien,  for  the  last  ten 
days  had  been  battering  the  rampart  at  the  Point-du-Jour,  as 
a  consequence  of  which  the  Saint-Cloud  gate  was  no  longer 
tenable  and  an  assault  had  been  ordered  for  the  following 
morning,  the  22d  ;  but  someone  who  chanced  to  pass  that  way 
at  about  five  o'clock  perceived  that  the  gate  was  unprotected 
and  immediately  notified  the  guards  in  the  trenches,  who  were 
not  more  than  fifty  yards  away.  Two  companies  of  the  37th 
regiment  of  regulars  were  the  first  to  enter  the  city,  and  were 
quickly  followed  by  the  entire  4th  corps  under  General 
Douay.  All  night  long  the  troops  were  pouring  in  in  an  un- 
interrupted stream.  At  seven  o'clock  Verge's  division 
marched  down  to  the  bridge  at  Crenelle,  crossed,  and  pushed 
on  to  the  Trocadero.  At  nine  General  Clinchamp  was  master 
of  Passy  and  la  Muette.  At  three  o'clock  in  the  morning 
the  ist  corps  had  pitched  its  tents  in  the  Bois  de  Boulogne, 
while  at  about  the  same  hour  Bruat's  division  was  passing  the 
Seine  to  seize  the  Sevres  gate  and  facilitate  the  movement  of 
the  2d  Corps,  General  de  Cissey's,  which  occupied  the  dis- 
trict of  Grenelle  an  hour  later.  The  Versailles  army,  there- 
fore, on  the  morning  of  the  22d,  was  master  of  the  Trocadero 
and  the  Chateau  of  la  Muette  on  the  right  bank,  and  of 
Grenelle  on  the  left  ;  and  great  was  the  rage  and  consterna- 
tion that  prevailed  among  the  Communists,  who  were  already 
accusing  one  another  of  treason,  frantic  at  the  thought  of 
their  inevitable  defeat. 

When  Maurice  at  last  understood  the  condition  of  affairs 
his  first  thought  was  that  the  end  had  come,  that  all  left  him 
was  to  go  forth  and  meet  his  death.  But  the  tocsin  was  peal- 


THE  DOWNFALL.  529 

ing,  drums  were  beating,  women  and  children,  even,  were 
working  on  the  barricades,  the  streets  were,  alive  with  the  stir 
and  bustle  of  the  battalions  hurrying  to  assume  the  positions 
assigned  them  in  the  coming  conflict.  By  midday  it  was  seen 
that  the  Versaillese  were  remaining  quiet  in  their  new  posi- 
tions, and  then  fresh  courage  returned  to  the  hearts  of  the 
soldiers  of  the  Commune,  who  were  resolved  to  conquer  or  die. 
The  enemy's  army,  which  they  had  feared  to  see  in  possession 
of  the  Tuileries  by  that  time,  profiting  by  the  stern  lessons  of 
experience  and  imitating  the  prudent  tactics  of  the  Prussians, 
conducted  its  operations  with  the  utmost  caution.  The  Com- 
mittee of  Public  Safety  and  Uelescluze,  Delegate  at  War, 
directed  the  defense  from  their  quarters  in  the  Hotel  de 
Ville.  It  was  reported  that  a  last  proposal  for  a  peaceable 
arrangement  had  been  rejected  by  them  with  disdain.  That 
served  to  inspire  the  men  with  still  more  courage,  the  triumph 
of  Paris  was  assured,  the  resistance  would  be  as  unyielding  as 
the  attack  was  vindictive,  in  the  implacable  hate,  swollen  by 
lies  and  cruelties,  that  inflamed  the  heart  of  either  army.  And 
that  day  was  spent  by  Maurice  in  the  quarters  of  the  Champ 
de  Mars  and  the  Invalides,  firing  and  falling  back  slowly  from 
street  to  street.  He  had  not  been  able  to  find  his  battalion  ; 
he  fought  in  the  ranks  with  comrades  who  were  strangers  to 
him,  accompanying  them  in  their  march  to  the  left  bank  with- 
out taking  heed  whither  they  were  going.  About  four  o'clock 
they  had  a  furious  conflict  behind  a  barricade  that  had  been 
thrown  across  the  Rue  de  1'Universite,  where  it  comes  out  on 
the  Esplanade,  and  it  was  not  until  twilight  that  they  abandoned 
it  on  learning  that  Bruat's  division,  stealing  up  along  thequai, 
had  seized  the  Corps  Legislatif.  They  had  a  narrow  escape 
from  capture,  and  it  was  with  great  difficulty  that  they  man- 
aged to  reach  the  Rue  de  Lille  after  a  long  circuit  through  the 
Rue  Saint-Dominique  and  the  Rue  Bellechasse.  At  the  close  of 
that  day  the  army  of  Versailles  occupied  a  line  which,  begin- 
ning at  the  Vanves  gate,  led  past  the  Corps  Legislatif,  the 
Palace  of  the  Elysee,  St.  Augustine's  Church,  the  Lazare 
station,  and  ended  at  the  Asnieres  gate. 

The  next  day,  Tuesday,  the  23d,  was  warm  and  bright,  and 
a  terrible  day  it  was  for  Maurice.  The  few  hundred  federates 
with  whom  he  was,  and  in  whose  ranks  were  men  of  many 
different  battalions,  were  charged  with  the  defense  of  the 
entire  quartier,  from  the  quai  to  the  Rue  Saint-Dominique. 
Most  of  them  had  bivouacked  in  the  gardens  of  the  great 


53°  THE  DOWNFALL. 

mansions  that  line  the  Rue  de  Lille  ;  he  had  had  an  unbroken 
night's  rest  on  a  grass-plot  at  one  side  of  the   Palace  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor.     It  was  his  belief  that  soon  as  it  was  light 
enough  the  troops  would  move  out  from  their  shelter  behind 
the  Corps  Legislatif  and  force  them  back  upon  the  strong 
barricades  in  the  Rue  du  Bac,  but  hour  after  hour  passed  and 
there  was  no  sign  of  an  attack.     There  was  only  some  desul- 
tory firing  at  long  range  between  parties  posted  at  either  end 
of  the  streets.     The  Versaillese,   who  were  not  desirous  of 
attempting  a  direct  attack  on  the  front  of  the  formidable 
fortress  into  which  the  insurgents  had  converted  the  terrace  of 
the  Tuileries,  developed  their  plan   of  action  with  great  cir- 
cumspection ;  two  strong  columns  were  sent  out  to  right  and 
left  that,  skirting  the  ramparts,  should  first  seize  Montmartre 
and  the  Observatory  and  then,  wheeling  inward,  swoop  down 
on  the  central  quarters,  surrounding  them  and  capturing  all 
they  contained,  as  a  shoal  of  fish  is  captured  in  the  meshes  of 
a  gigantic  net.     About  two  o'clock  Maurice  heard  that  the 
tricolor  was  floating   over  Montmartre  :  the  great  battery  of 
the  Moulin  de  la  Galette  had   succumbed  to  the  combined 
attack   of   three   army   corps,  which   hurled   their   battalions 
simultaneously  on  the  northern  and  western  faces  of  the  butte 
through  the  Rues  Lepic,  des  Saules  anddu  Mont-Cenis  ;  then 
the  waves  of  the  victorious  troops  had   poured  back  on  Paris, 
carrying   the  Place  Saint-Georges,  Notre-Dame  de   Lorette, 
the  mairie  in  the  Rue  Drouot  and  the  new  Opera  House,  while 
on  the  left  bank  the  turning  movement,  starting    from   the 
cemetery  of  Mont-Parnasse,  had  reached    the  Place  d'Enfer 
and  the  Horse  Market.     These  tidings  of  the  rapid  progress 
of  the  hostile  army  were   received  by  the  communards  with 
mingled  feelings   of  rage   and   terror   amounting   almost  to 
stupefaction.     What,  Montmartre  carried  in  two  hours  ;  Mont- 
martre, the  glorious,  the  impregnable  citadel  of  the  insurrec- 
tion !     Maurice  saw  that  the  ranks  were  thinning  about  him  ; 
trembling  soldiers,  fearing  the  fate  that  was  in  store  for  them 
should  they  be  caught,  were  slinking  furtively  away  to  look 
for  a  place  where  they  might  wash  the  powder  grime  from 
hands  and   face  and   exchange  their  uniform  for  a   blouse. 
There  was  a  rumor  that  the  enemy  were  making  ready  to 
attack  the  Croix-Rouge  and  take  their  position  in  flank.     By 
this  time  the  barricades  in  the  RuesMartignac  and  Bellechasse 
had  been  carried,  the  red-legs  were  beginning  to  make  their 
appearance  at  the  end  of  the  Rue  de  Lille,  and  soon  all  that 


THE  DOWNFALL.  S31 

remained  *vas  a  little  band  of  fanatics  and  men  with  the  cour- 
age of  their  opinions,  Maurice  and  some  fifty  more,  who  were 
resolved  to  sell  their  lives  dearly,  killing  as  many  as  they  could 
of  those  Versaillese,  who  treated  the  federates  like  thieves  and 
murderers,  dragging  away  the  prisoners  they  made  and  shoot- 
ing them  in  the  rear  of  the  line  of  battle.  Their  bitter  ani- 
mosity had  broadened  and  deepened  since  the  days  before  ; 
it  was  war  to  the  knife  between  those  rebels  dying  for  an  idea 
and  that  army, inflamed  with  reactionary  passions  and  irritated 
that  it  was  kept  so  long  in  the  field. 

About  five  o'clock,  as  Maurice  and  his  companions  were 
finally  falling  back  to  seek  the  shelter  of  the  barricades  in  the 
Rue  du  Bac,  descending  the  Rue  de  Lille  and  pausing  at 
every  moment  to  fire  another  shot,  he  suddenly  beheld 
volumes  of  dense  black  smoke  pouring  from  an  open  window 
in  the  Palace  of  the  Legion  of  Honor.  It  was  the  first  fire 
kindled  in  Paris,  and  in  the  furious  insanity  that  possessed 
him  it  gave  him  a  fierce  delight.  The  hour  had  struck  ;  let 
the  whole  city  go  up  in  flame,  let  its  people  be  cleansed  by  the 
fiery  purification  !  But  a  sight  that  he  saw  presently  filled 
him  with  surprise  :  a  band  of  five  or  six  men  came  hurrying 
out  of  the  building,  headed  by  a  tall  varlet  in  whom  he  recog- 
nized Chouteau,his  former  comrade  in  the  squad  of  the  io6th. 
He  had  seen  him  once  before,  after  the  i8th  of  March,  wear- 
ing a  gold-laced  k£pi  ;  he  seemed  by  his  bedizened  uni- 
form to  have  risen  in  rank,  was  probably  on  the  staff  of  some 
one  of  the  many  generals  who  were  never  seen  where  there 
was  fighting  going  on.  He  remembered  the  account  some- 
body had  given  him  of  that  fellow  Chouteau,  of  his  quartering 
himself  in  the  Palace  of  the  Legion  of  Honor  and  living  there, 
guzzling  and  swilling,  in  company  with  a  mistress,  wallowing 
with  his  boots  on  in  the  great  luxurious  beds,  smashing  the 
plate-glass  mirrors  with  shots  from  his  revolver,  merely  for 
the  amusement  there  was  in  it.  It  was  even  asserted  that  the 
woman  left  the  building  every  morning  in  one  of  the  state 
carriages,  under  pretense  of  going  to  the  Halles  for  her  day's 
marketing,  carrying  off  with  her  great  bundles  of  linen,  clocks, 
and  even  articles  of  furniture,  the  fruit  of  their  thieveries. 
And  Maurice,  as  he  watched  him  running  away  with  his  men, 
carrying  a  bucket  of  petroleum  on  his  arm,  experienced  a 
sickening  sensation  of  doubt  and  felt  his  faith  beginning  to 
waver.  How  could  the  terrible  work  they  were  engaged  in 
be  good,  when  men  like  that  were  the  workmen  ? 


532  THE  DOWNFALL. 

Hours  passed,  and  still  he  fought  on,  but  with  a  bitter  feel- 
ing of  distress,  with  no  other  wish  than  that  he  mignt  die.  If 
he  had  erred,  let  him  at  least  atone  for  his  error  with  his 
blood  !  The  barricade  across  the  .Rue  de  Lille,  near  its  inter- 
section with  the  Rue  du  Bac,  was  a  formidable  one,  composed 
of  bags  and  casks  filled  with  earth  and  faced  by  a  deep  ditch. 
He  and  a  scant  dozen  of  other  federates  were  its  only  de- 
fenders, resting  in  a  semi-recumbent  position  on  the  ground, 
infallibly  causing  every  soldier  who  exposed  himself  to  bite 
the  dust.  He  lay  there,  without  even  changing  his  position, 
until  nightfall,  using  up  his  cartridges  in  silence,  in  the 
dogged  sullenness  of  his  despair.  The  dense  clouds  of 
smoke  from  the  Palace  of  the  Legion  of  Honor  were  billowing 
upward  in  denser  masses,  the  flames  undistinguishable  as  yet 
in  the  dying  daylight,  and  he  watched  the  fantastic,  changing 
forms  they  took  as  the  wind  whirled  them  downward  to  the 
street.  Another  fire  had  broken  out  in  an  hotel  not  far  away. 
And  all  at  once  a  comrade  came  running  up  to  tell  him  that 
the  enemy,  not  daring  to  advance  along  the  street,  were  mak- 
ing a  way  for  themselves  through  the  houses  and  gardens, 
breaking  down  the  walls  with  picks.  The  end  was  close  at 
hand  ;  they  might  come  out  in  the  rear  of  the  barricade  at 
any  moment.  A  shot  having  been  fired  from  an  upper 
window  of  a  house  on  the  corner,  he  saw  Chouteau  and  his 
gang,  with  their  petroleum  and  their  lighted  torch,  rush  with 
frantic  speed  to  the  buildings  on  either  side  and  climb  the 
stairs,  and  half  an  hour  later,  in  the  increasing  darkness,  the 
entire  square  was  in  flames,  while  he,  still  prone  on  the 
ground  behind  his  shelter,  availed  himself  of  the  vivid  light  to 
pick  off  any  venturesome  soldier  who  steppped  from  his  pro- 
tecting doorway  into  the  narrow  street. 

How  long  did  Maurice  keep  on  firing  ?  He  could  not  tell ; 
he  had  lost  all  consciousness  of  time  and  place.  It  might  be 
nine  o'clock,  or  ten,  perhaps.  He  continued  to  load  and  fire  ; 
his  condition  of  hopelessness  and  gloom  was  pitiable  ;  death 
seemed  to  him  long  in  coming.  The  detestable  work  he  was 
engaged  in  gave  him  now  a  sensation  of  nausea,  as  the  fumes 
of  the  wine  he  has  drunk  rise  and  nauseate  the  drunkard.  An 
intense  heat  began  to  beat  on  him  from  the  houses  that  were 
burning  on  every  side — an  air  that  scorched  and  asphyxiated. 
The  carrefour,  with  the  barricades  that  closed  it  in,  was  be- 
come an  intrenched  camp,  guarded  by  the  roaring  flames  that 
rose  on  every  side  and  sent  down  showers  of  sparks.  Those 


THE  DOWNFALL  533 

were  the  orders,  were  they  not  ?  to  fire  the  adjacent  houses 
before  they  abandoned  the  barricades,  arrest  the  progress  of 
the  troops  by  an  impassable  sea  of  flame,  burn  Paris  in  the 
face  of  the  enemy  advancing  to  take  possession  of  it.  And 
presently  he  became  aware  that  the  houses  in  the  Rue  du  Bac 
were  not  the  only  ones  that  were  devoted  to  destruction  ;  look- 
ing behind  him  he  beheld  the  whole  sky  suffused  with  a  bright, 
ruddy  glow;  he  heard  an  ominous  roar  in  the  distance,  as  if 
all  Paris  were  bursting  into  conflagration.  Chouteau  was  no 
longer  to  be  seen  ;  he  had  long  since  fled  to  save  his  skin  from 
the  bullets.  His  comrades,  too,  even  those  most. zealous  in 
the  cause,  had  one  by  one  stolen  away,  affrighted  at  the  ap- 
proaching prospect  of  being  outflanked.  At  last  he  was 
left  alone,  stretched  at  length  between  two  sand  bags,  his 
every  faculty  bent  on  defending  the  front  of  the  barricade, 
when  the  soldiers,  who  had  made  their  way  through  the  gar- 
dens in  the  middle  of  the  block,  emerged  from  a  house  in  the 
Rue  du  Bac  and  pounced  on  him  from  the  rear. 

For  two  whole  days,  in  the  fevered  excitement  of  the  su- 
preme conflict,  Maurice  had  not  once  thought  of  Jean,  nor 
had  Jean,  since  he  entered  Paris  with  his  regiment,  which  had 
been  assigned  to  Bruat's  division,  for  a  single  moment  remem- 
bered Maurice.  The  day  before  his  duties  had  kept  him  in 
the  neighborhood  of  the  Champ  de  Mars  and  the  Esplanade 
of  the  Invalides,  and  on  this  day  he  had  remained  in  the  Place 
du  Palais-Bourbon  until  nearly  noon,  when  the  troops  were 
sent  forward  to  clean  out  the  barricades  of  the  quartier,  as  far 
as  the  Rue  des  Saints-Peres.  A  feeling  of  deep  exasperation 
against  the  rioters  had  gradually  taken  possession  of  him, 
usually  so  calm  and  self-contained,  as  it  had  of  all  his  com- 
rades, whose  ardent  wish  it  was  to  be  allowed  to  go  home  and 
rest  after  so  many  months  of  fatigue.  But  of  all  the  atrocities 
of  the  Commune  that  stirred  his  placid  nature  and  made  him 
forgetful  even  of  his  tenderest  affections,  there  were  none  that 
angered  him  as  did  those  conflagrations.  What,  burn  houses, 
set  fire  to  palaces,  and  simply  because  they  had  lost  the  battle  ! 
Only  robbers  and  murderers  were  capable  of  such  work  as 
that.  And  he  who  but  the  day  before  had  sorrowed  over  the 
summary  executions  of  the  insurgents  was  now  like  a  mad- 
man, ready  to  rend  and  tear,  yelling,  shouting,  his  eyes  start- 
ing from  their  sockets. 

Jean  burst  like  a  hurricane  into  the  Rue  du  Bac  with  the 
few  men  of  his  squad.  At  first  he  could  distinguish  no  one ; 


534  THE  DOWNFALL. 

he  thought  the  barricade  had  been  abandoned.  Then, 
looking  more  closely,  he  perceived  a  communard  extended  on 
the  ground  between  two  sand  bags  ;  he  stirred,  he  brought 
his  piece  to  the  shoulder,  was  about  to  discharge  it  down  the 
Rue  du  Bac.  And  impelled  by  blind  fate,  Jean  rushed  upon 
the  man  and  thrust  his  bayonet  through  him,  nailing  him  to 
the  barricade. 

Maurice  had  not  had  time  to  turn.  He  gave  a  cry  and 
raised  his  head..  The  blinding  light  of  the  burning  buildings 
fell  full  on  their  faces. 

*'  O  Jean,  dear  old  boy,  is  it  you  ? " 

To  die,  that  was  what  he  wished,  what  he  had  been  longing 
for.  But  to  die  by  his  brother's  hand,  ah  !  the  cup  was 
too  bitter  ;  the  thought  of  death  no  longer  smiled  on  him. 

"  Is  it  you,  Jean,  old  friend  ? " 

Jean,  sobered  by  the  terrible  shock,  looked  at  him  with 
wild  eyes.  They  were  alone  ;  the  other  soldiers  had  gone  in 
pursuit  of  the  fugitives.  About  them  the  conflagrations 
roared  and  crackled  and  blazed  up  higher  than  before  ;  great 
sheets  of  white  flame  poured  from  the  windows,  while  from 
within  came  the  crash  of  falling  ceilings.  And  Jean  cast  him- 
self on  the  ground  at  Maurice's  side,  sobbing,  feeling  him, 
trying  to  raise  him  to  see  if  he  might  not  yet  be  saved. 

"  My  boy,  oh  !  my  poor,  poor  boy  !  " 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

WHEN  at  about  nine  o'clock  the  train  from  Sedan,  after 
innumerable  delays  along  the  way,  rolled  into  the  Saint- 
Denis  station,  the  sky  to  the  south  was  lit  up  by  a  fiery  glow 
as  if  all  Paris  was  burning.  The  light  had  increased  with  the 
growing  darkness,  and  now  it  filled  the  horizon,  climbing  con- 
stantly higher  up  the  heavens  and  tinging  with  blood-red  hues 
some  clouds,  that  lay  off  to  the  eastward  in  the  gloom  which  the 
contrast  rendered  more  opaque  than  ever. 

The  travelers  alighted,  Henriette  among  the  first,  alarmed 
by  the  glare  they  had  beheld  from  the  windows  of  the  cars  as 
they  rushed  onward  across  the  darkling  fields.  The  soldiers 
of  a  Prussian  detachment,  moreover,  that  had  been  sent  to 
occupy  the  station  went  through  the  train  and  compelled  the 
passengers  to  leave  it,  while  two  of  their  number,  stationed  on 
the  piatform,  shouted  in  guttural  French  • 


THE  DOWNFALL.  535 

"  Paris  is  burning.  All  out  here  !  this  train  goes  no  fur- 
ther. Paris  is  burning,  Paris  is  burning  !  " 

Henriette  experienced  a  terrible  shock.  Mon  Dieu  /  was  she 
too  late,  then  ?  Receiving  no  reply  from  Maurice  to  her  two 
last  letters,  the  alarming  news  from  Paris  had  filled  her  with 
such  mortal  terror  that  she  determined  to  leave  Retnilly  and 
come  and  try  to  find  her  brother  in  the  great  city.  For  months 
past  her  life  at  Uncle  Fouchard's  had  been  a  melancholy  one  ; 
the  troops  occupying  the  village  and  the  surrounding  country 
had  become  harsher  and  more  exacting  as  the  resistance  of 
Paris  was  protracted,  and  now  that  peace  was  declared  and  the 
regiments  were  stringing  along  the  roads,  one  by  one,  on  their 
way  home  to  Germany,  the  country  and  the  cities  through 
which  they  passed  were  taxed  to  their  utmost  to  feed  the 
hungry  soldiers.  The  morning  when  she  arose  at  daybreak  to 
go  and  take  the  train  at  Sedan,  looking  out  into  the  courtyard  of 
the  farm  house  she  had  seen  a  body  of  cavalry  who  had  slept 
there  all  night,  scattered  promiscuously  on  the  bare  ground, 
wrapped  in  their  long  cloaks.  They  were  so  numerous  that 
the  earth  was  hidden  by  them.  Then,  at  the  shrill  summons 
of  a  trumpet  call,  all  had  risen  to  their  feet,  silent,  draped  in 
the  folds  of  those  long  mantles,  and  in  such  serried,  close 
array  that  she  involuntarily  thought  of  the  graves  of  a  battle- 
field opening  and  giving  up  their  dead  at  the  call  of  the  last 
trump.  And  here  again  at  Saint-Denis  she  encountered  the 
Prussians,  and  it  was  from  Prussian  lips  that  came  that  cry 
which  caused  her  such  distress  : 

"All  out  here!  this  train  goes  no  further.  Paris  is  burn- 
ing !  " 

Henriette,  her  little  satchel  in  her  hand,  rushed  distractedly 
up  to  the  men  in  quest  of  information.  There  had  been  heavy 
fighting  in  Paris  for  the  last  two  days,  they  told  her,  the  rail- 
way had  been  destroyed,  the  Germans  were  watching  the  course 
of  events.  But  she  insisted  on  pursuing  her  journey  at  every 
risk,  and  catching  sight  upon  the  platform  of  the  officer  in 
command  of  the  detachment  detailed  to  guard  the  station,  she 
^hurried  up  to  him. 

"  Sir,  I  am  terribly  distressed  about  my  brother,  and  am  try- 
ing to  get  to  him.  I  entreat  you,  furnish  me  with  the  means 
to  reach  Paris."  The  light  from  a  gas  jet  fell  full  on  the 
captain's  face;  she  stopped  in  surprise.  "What,  Otto,  is  it 
you  !  Oh,  mon  Dieu  !  be  good  to  me,  since  chance  has  once 
more  brought  us  together  1 " 


536  THE  DOWNFALL. 

It  was  Otto  Gunther,  the  cousin,  as  stiff  and  ceremonious  as 
ever,  tight-buttoned  in  his  Guard's  uniform,  the  picture  of  a 
narrow-minded  martinet.  At  first  he  failed  to  recognize  the 
little,  thin,  insignificant-looking  woman,  with  the  handsome 
light  hair  and  the  pale,  gentle  face  ;  it  was  only  by  the  brave, 
honest  look  that  filled  her  eyes  that  he  finally  remembered 
her.  His  only  answer  was  a  slight  shrug  of  the  shoulders. 

"  You  know  I  have  a  brother  in  the  army,"  Henriette  eagerly 
went  on.  "  He  is  in  Paris  ;  I  tear  he  has  allowed  himself  to 
become  mixed  up  with  this  horrible  conflict.  O  Otto,  I  be- 
seech you,  assist  me  to  continue  my  journey." 

At  last  he  condescended  to  speak.  "  But  I  can  do  nothing 
to  help  you  ;  really  I  cannot.  There  have  been  no  trains  run- 
ning since  yesterday  ;  I  believe  the  rails  have  been  torn  up 
over  by  the  ramparts  somewhere.  And  I  have  neither  a  horse 
and  carriage  nor  a  man  to  guide  you  at  my  disposal." 

She  looked  him  in  the  face  with  a  low,  stifled  murmur  of 
pain  and  sorrow  to  behold  him  thus  obdurate.  "  Oh,  you  will 
do  nothing  to  aid  me.  My  God,  to  whom  then  can  I  turn  !  " 

It  was  an  unlikely  story  for  one  of  those  Prussians  to  tell, 
whose  hosts  were  everywhere  all-powerful,  who  had  the  city  at 
their  ^eck  and  call,  could  have,  requisitioned  a  hundred  car- 
riages ^.id  brought  a  thousand  horses  from  their  stables.  And 
he  denied  her  prayer  with  the  haughty  air  of  a  victor  who  has 
made  it  a  law  to  himself  not  to  interfere  with  the  concerns  of 
the  vanquished,  lest  thereby  he  might  defile  himself  and  tarnish 
the  luster  of  his  new-won  laurels. 

"  At  all  events,"  continued  Henriette,  "  you  know  what  is 
going  on  in  *he  city  ;  you  won't  refuse  to  tell  me  that  much." 

He  gave  a  smile,  so  faint  as  scarce  to  be  perceptible.  "  Paris 
is  burning.  Look  !  come  this  way,  you  can  see  more 
clearly." 

Leaving  the  station,  he  preceded  her  along  the  track  for  a 
hundred  steps  or  so  until  they  came  to  an  iron  foot-bridge 
that  spanned  the  road.  When  they  had  climbed  the  narrow 
stairs  and  reached  the  floor  of  the  structure,  resting  their  el- 
bows on  the  railing  ,  they  beheld  the  broad  level  plain  out- 
stretched before  them,  at  the  foot  of  the  slope  of  the  embank- 
ment. 

"  You-see,  Paris  is  burning." 

It  was  in  the  neighborhood  of  ten  o'clock.  The  fierce  red 
glare  that  lit  the  southern  sky  was  ever  mounting  higher.  The 
blood-red  clouds  had  disappeared  from  where  they  had  floated 


THE   DOWNFALL.  537 

in  the  east  ;  the  zenith  was  like  a  great  inverted  bowl  of  inky 
blackness,  across  which  ran  the  reflections  of  the  distant  flames. 
The  horizon  was  one  unbroken  line  of  fire,  but  to  the  right 
they  could  distinguish  spots  where  the  conflagration  was  rag- 
ing with  greater  fury,  sending  up  great  spires  and  pinnacles 
of  flame,  of  the  most  vivid  scarlet,  to  pierce  the  dense  opacity 
above,  amid  billowing  clouds  of  smoke.  It  was  like  the  burn- 
ing of  some  great  forest,  where  the  fire  bridges  intervening 
space,  and  leaps  from  tree  to  tree  ;  one  would  have  said  the 
very  earth  must  be  calcined  and  reduced  to  ashes  beneath 
the  heat  of  Paris'  gigantic  funeral  pyre. 

"  Look,"  said  Otto,  "  that  eminence  that  you  see  profiled  in 
black  against  the  red  background  is  Montmartre.  There  on 
the  left,  at  Belleville  and  la  Villette,  there  has  not  been  a  house 
burned  yet ;  it  must  be  they  are  selecting  the  districts  of  the 
wealthy  for  their  work  ;  and  it  spreads,  it  spreads.  Look  ! 
there  is  another  conflagration  breaking  out ;  watch  the  flames 
there  to  the  right,  how  they  seethe  and  rise  and  fall  ;  observe 
the  shifting  tints  of  the  vapors  that  rise  from  the  blazing  fur- 
nace. And  others,  and  others  still ;  the  heavens  are  on  fire  !  " 

He  did  not  raise  his  voice  or  manifest  any  sign  of  feeling, 
and  it  froze  Henriette's  blood  that  a  human  being  could  stand 
by  and  witness  such  a  spectacle  unmoved.  Ah,  that  those 
Prussians  should  be  there  to  see  that  sight  !  She  saw  an  insult 
in  his  studied  calmness,  in  the  faint  smile  that  played  upon 
his  lips,  as  if  he  had  long  foreseen  and  been  watching  for  that 
unparalleled  disaster.  So,  Paris  was  burning  then  at  last, 
is,  upon  whose  monuments  the  German  shells  had  scarce 
been  able  to  inflict  more  than  a  scratch  !  and  he  was  there  to  see 
it  burn,  and  in  the  spectacle  found  compensation  for  all  his 
grievances,  the  inordinate  length  to  which  the  siege  had  been 
protracted,  the  bitter,  freezing  weather,  the  difficulties  they  had 
surmounted  only  to  see  them  present  themselves  anew  under 
some  other  shape,  the  toil  and  trouble  they  had  had  in 
mounting  their  heavy  guns,  while  all  the  time  Germany  from 
behind  was  reproaching  them  with  their  dilatoriness.  Nothing 
in  all  the  glory  of  their  victory,  neither  the  ceded  provinces 
nor  the  indemnity  of  five  milliards,  appealed  to  him  so  strongly 
as  did  that  sight  of  Paris,  in  a  fit  of  furious  madness,  immo- 
lating herself  and  gofng  up  in  smoke  and  flame  on  that  beau- 
tiful spring  night. 

"  Ah,  it  was  sure  to  come,"  he  added  in  a  lower  voice. 
"  Fine  work,  my  masters  !  " 


THE  DOWNFALL. 

It  seemed  to  Henriette  as  if  her  heart  would  break  in  pres- 
ence of  that  dire  catastrophe.  Her  personal  grief  was  lost  to 
sight  for  some  minutes,  swallowed  up  in  the  great  drama  of  a 
people's  atonement  that  was  being  enacted  before  her  eyes. 
The  thought  of  the  lives  that  would  be  sacrificed  to  the  de- 
vouring flames,  the  sight  of  the  great  capital  blazing  on  the 
horizon,  emitting  the  infernal  light  of  the  cities  that  were 
accursed  and  smitten  for  their  iniquity,  elicited  from  her  an 
involuntary  cry  of  anguish.  She  clasped  her  hands,  asking  : 

"  Oh,  merciful  Father,  of  what  have  we  been  guilty  that  we 
should  be  punished  thus  ?  " 

Otto  raised  his  arm  in  an  oratorical  attitude.  He  was  on 
the  point  of  speaking,  with  the  stern,  cold-blooded  vehemence 
of  the  military  bigot  who  has  ever  a  quotation  from  Holy  Writ 
at  his  tongue's  end,  but  glancing  at  the  young  woman,  the 
look  he  encountered  from  her  candid,  gentle  eyes  checked 
him.  Besides,  his  gesture  had  spoken  for  him  ;  it  told  his 
hatred  for  the  nation,  his  conviction  that  he  was  in  France  to 
mete  out  justice,  delegated  by  the  God  of  Armies,  to  chastise 
a  perverse  and  stiff-necked  generation.  Paris  was  burning  off 
there  on  the  horizon  in  expiation  of  its  centuries  of  dissolute 
life,  of  its  heaped-up  measure  of  crime  and  lust.  Once  again 
the  German  race  were  to  be(the  saviors  of  the  world,  were,  to 
purge  Europe  of  the  remnant  of  Latin  corruption.  He  let  his 
arm  fall  to  his  side  and  simply  said  : 

"  It  is  the  end  of  all.  There  is  another  quartier  doomed, 
for  see,  a  fresh  fire  has  broken  out  there  to  the  right.  In  that 
direction,  that  line  of  flame  that  creeps  onward  like  a  stream 
of  lava " 

Neither  spoke  for  a  long  time  ;  an  awed  silence  rested  on 
them.  The  great  waves  of  flame  continued  to  ascend,  sending 
up  streamers  and  ribbons  of  vivid  light  high  into  the  heavens. 
Beneath  the  sea  of  fire  was  every  moment  extending  its 
boundaries,  a  tossing,  stormy,  burning  ocean,  whence  now 
arose  dense  clouds  of  smoke  that  collected  over  the  city  in  a 
huge  pall  of  a  somber  coppery  hue,  which  was  wafted  slowly 
athwart  the  blackness  of  the  night,  streaking  the  vault  of 
heaven  with  its  accursed  rain  of  ashes  and  of  soot. 

Henriette  started  as  if  awaking  from  an  evil  dream,  and,  the 
thought  of  her  brother  flowing  in  again  upon  her  mind,  once 
more  became  a  supplicant. 

"  Can  you  do  nothing  for  me  ?  won't  you  assist  me  to  get  to 


THE  DOWNFALL.  539 

With  his  former  air  of  unconcern  Otto  again  raised  his  eyes 
to  the  horizon,  smiling  vaguely. 

"What  would  be  the  use  ?  since  to-morrow  morning  the  city 
will  be  a  pile  of  ruins  !  " 

And  that  was  all  ;  she  left  the  bridge,  without  even  bidding 
him  good-by,  flying,  she  knew  not  whither,  with  her  little 
satchel,  while  he  remained  yet  a  long  time  at  his  post  of  obser- 
vation, a  motionless  figure,  rigid  and  erect,  lost  in  the  darkness 
of  the  night,  feasting  his  eyes  on  the  spectacle  of  that  Babylon 
in  flames. 

Almost  the  first  person  that  Henriette  encountered  on  emerg- 
ing from  the  station  was  a  stout  lady  who  was  chaffering  with 
a  hackman  over  his  charge  for  driving  her  to  the  Rue  Riche- 
lieu in  Paris,  and  the  young  woman  pleaded  so  touchingly, 
with  tears  in  her  eyes,  that  finally  the  lady  consented  to  let  her 
occupy  a  seat  in  the  carriage.  The  driver,  a  little  swarthy  man, 
whipped  up  his  horse  and  did  not  open  his  lips  once  during 
the  ride,  but  the  stout  lady  was  extremely  loquacious,  telling 
how  she  had  left  the  city  the  day  but  one  before  after  tightly 
locking  and  bolting  her  shop,  but  had  been  so  imprudent  as  to 
leave  some  valuable  papers  behind,  hidden  in  a  hole  in  the 
wall  ;  hence  her  mind  had  been  occupied  by  one  engrossing 
thought  for  the  two  hours  that  the  city  had  been  burning,  how 
she  might  return  and  snatch  her  property  from  the  flames. 
The  sleepy  guards  at  the  barrier  allowed  the  carriage  to  pass 
without  much  difficulty,  the  worthy  lady  allaying  their  scruples 
with  a  fib,  telling  them  she  was  bringing  back  her  niece  with 
her  to  Paris  to  assist  in  nursing  her  husband,  who  had  been 
wounded  by  the  Versaillese.  It  was  not  until  they  commenced 
to  make  their  way  along  the  paved  streets  that  they  encoun- 
tered serious  obstacles  ;  they  were  obliged  at  every  moment 
to  turn  out  in  order  to  avoid  the  barricades  that  were  erected 
across  the  roadway,  and  when  at  last  they  reached  the  boule- 
vard Poissoniere  the  driver  declared  he  would  go  no  further. 
The  two  women  were  therefore  forced  to  continue  their  way 
on  foot,  through  the  Rue  du  Sender,  the  Rue  des  Jeuneurs, 
*nd  all  the  circumscribing  region  of  the  Bourse.  As  they  ap- 
proached the  fortifications  the  blazing  sky  had  made  their  way 
as  bright  before  them  as  if  it  had  been  broad  day  ;  now  they 
were  surprised  by  the  deserted  and  tranquil  condition  of  the 
streets,  where  the  only  sound  that  disturbed  the  stillness  was  a 
dull,  distant  roar.  In  the  vicinity  of  the  Bourse,  however,  they 
were  alarmed  by  the  sound  of  musketry  ;  they  slipped  along 


54°  THE  DOWNFALL. 

with  great  caution,  hugging  the  walls.  On  reaching  the  Rue 
Richelieu  and  finding  her  shop  had  not  been  disturbed,  the 
stout  lady  was  so  overjoyed  that  she  insisted  on  seeing  her 
traveling  companion  safely  housed  ;  they  struck  through  the 
Rue  dii  Hazard,  the  Rue  Saint-Anne,  and  finally  reached  the 
Rue  des  Orties.  Some  federates,  whose  battalion  was  still 
holding  the  Rue  Saint-Anne,  attempted  to  prevent  them  from 
passing.  It  was  four  o'clock  and  already  quite  light  when 
Henriette,  exhausted  by  the  fatigue  of  her  long  day  and  the 
stress  of  her  emotions,  reached  the  old  house  in  the  Rue  des 
Orties  and  found  the  door  standing  open.  Climbing  the  dark, 
narrow  staircase,  she  turned  to  the  left  and  discovered  behind 
a  door  a  ladder  that  led  upward  toward  the  roof. 

Maurice,  meantime,  behind  the  barricade  in  the  Rue  du 
Bac,  had  succeeded  in  raising  himself  to  his  knees,  and  Jean's 
heart  throbbed  with  a  wild,  tumultuous  hope,  for  he  believed 
he  had  pinned  his  friend  to  the  earth. 

"  Oh,  my  little  one,  are  you  alive  still  ?  is  that  great  happi- 
ness in  store  for  me,  brute  that  I  am?  Wait  a  moment,  let 
me  see." 

He  examined  the  wound  with  great  tenderness  by  the  light 
of  the  burning  buildings.  The  bayonet  had  gone  through  the 
right  arm  near  the  shoulder,  but  a  more  serious  part  of  the 
business  was  that  it  had  afterward  entered  the  body  between 
two  of  the  ribs  and  probably  touched  the  lung.  Still,  the 
wounded  man  breathed  without  much  apparent  difficulty,  but 
the  right  arm  hung  useless  at  his  side. 

"  Poor  old  boy,  don't  grieve  !  We  shall  have  time  to  say 
good-by  to  each  other,  and  it  is  better  thus,  you  see  ;  I  am 
glad  to  have  done  with  it  all.  You  have  done  enough  for  me 
to  make  up  for  this,  for  I  should  have  died  long  ago  in  some 
ditch,  even  as  I  am  dying  now,  had  it  not  been  for  you." 

But  Jean,  hearing  him  speak  thus,  again  gave  way  to  an 
outburst  of  violent  grief. 

"  Hush,  hush  !  Twice  you  saved  me  from  the  clutches  of 
the  Prussians.  We  were  quits  ;  it  was  my  turn  to  devote  rny 
life,  and  instead  of  that  I  have  slain  you.  Ah,  tonnerre  de 
Dieu!  I  must  have  been  drunk  not  to  recognize  you  ;  yes, 
drunk  as  a  hog  from  glutting  myself  with  blood." 

Tears  streamed  from  his  eyes  at  the  recollection  of  their  last 
parting,  down  there  at  Remilly,  when  they  embraced,  asking 
themselves  if  they  should  ever  meet  again,  and  how,  under 
what  circumstances  of  sorrow  or  of  gladness.  It  was  nothing, 


THE  DOWNFALL.  541 

then,  that  they  had  passed  toilsome  days  and  sleepless  nights 
together,  with  death  staring  them  in  the  face  ?  It  was  to 
bring  them  to  this  abominable  thing,  to  this  senseless,  atro- 
cious fratricide,  that  their  hearts  had  been  fused  in  the  cru- 
cible of  those  weeks  of  suffering  endured  in  common  ?  No, 
no,  it  could  not  be  ;  he  turned  in  horror  from  the  thought. 

"  Let's  see  what  I  can  do,  little  one  ;  I  must  save  you." 

The  first  thing  to  be  done  was  to  remove  him  to  a  place  of 
safety,  for  the  troops  dispatched  the  wounded  Communists 
wherever  they  found  them.  They  were  alone,  fortunately ; 
there  was  not  a  minute  to  lose.  He  first  ripped  the  sleeve 
from  wrist  to  shoulder  with  his  knife,  then  took  off  the  uniform 
coat.  Some  blood  flowed  ;  he  made  haste  to  bandage  the  arm 
securely  with  strips  that  he  tore  from  the  lining  of  the  garment 
for  the  purpose.  After  that  he  staunched  as  well  as  he  could 
the  wound  in  the  side  and  fastened  the  injured  arm  over  it. 
He  luckily  had  a  bit  of  cord  in  his  pocket,  which  he  knotted 
tightly  around  the  primitive  dressing,  thus  assuring  the  immo- 
bility of  the  injured  parts  and  preventing  hemorrhage. 

"  Can  you  walk  ?" 

"  Yes,  I  think  so." 

But  he  did  not  dare  to  take  him  through  the  streets  thus,  in 
his  shirt  sleeves.  Remembering  to  have  seen  a  dead  soldier 
lying  in  an  adjacent  street,  he  hurried  off  and  presently  came 
back  with  a  capote  and  a  kepi.  He  threw  the  greatcoat  over 
his  friend's  shoulders  and  assisted  him  to  slip  his  uninjured 
arm  into  the  left  sleeve.  Then,  when  he  had  put  the  kepi  on 
his  head  : 

"  There,  now  you  are  one  of  us — where  are  we  to  go  ? " 

That  was  the  question.  His  reviving  hope  and  courage 
were  suddenly  damped  by  a  horrible  uncertainty.  Where 
were  they  to  look  for  a  shelter  that  gave  promise  of  security  ? 
the  troops  were  searching  the  houses,  were  shooting  every 
Communist  they  took  with  arms  in  his  hands.  And  in  addition 
to  that,  neither  of  them  knew  a  soul  in  that  portion  of  the 
city  to  whom  they  might  apply  for  succor  and  refuge  ;  not 
a  place  where  they  might  hide  their  heads. 

"  The  best  thing  to  do  would  be  to  go  home  where  I  live," 
said  Maurice.  "The  house  is  out  of  the  way;  no  one  will 
ever  think  of  visiting  it.  But  it  is  in  the  Rue  des  Orties,  on 
the  other  side  of  the  river." 

Jean  ga.ye  vent  tQ  a  muttered  oath  in  his  irresolution  an<3 
despair, 


542  THE  DOWNFALL. 

"  Norn  de  Dieu  f  What  are  we  to  do  ?  " 
It  was  useless  to  think  of  attempting  to  pass  the  Pont  Royal, 
which  could  not  have  been  more  brilliantly  illuminated  if  the 
noonday  sun  had  been  shining  on  it.  At  every  moment  shots 
were  heard  coming  from  either  bank  of  the  river.  Besides 
that,  the  blazing  Tuileries  lay  directly  in  their  path,  and  the 
Louvre,  guarded  and  barricaded,  would  be  an  insurmountable 
obstacle. 

"  That  ends  it,  then  ;  there's  no  way  open,"  said  Jean,  who 
had  spent  six  months  in  Paris  on  his  return  from  the  Italian 
campaign. 

An  idea  suddenly  flashed  across  his  brain.  There  had 
formerly  been  a  place  a  little  below  the  Pont  Royal  where 
small  boats  were  kept  for  hire  ;  if  the  boats  were  there  still 
they  would  make  the  venture.  The  route  was  a  long  and 
dangerous  one,  but  they  had  no  choice,  and,  further,  they  must 
act  with  decision. 

"  See  here,  little  one,  we're  going  to  clear  out  from  here ; 
the  locality  isn't  healthy.  I'll  manufacture  an  excuse  for  my 
lieutenant  ;  I'll  tell  him  the  communards  took  me  prisoner  and 
I  got  away." 

Taking  his  unhurt  arm  he  sustained  him  for  the  short  distance 
they  had  to  traverse  along  the  Rue  du  Bac,  where  the  tall 
houses  on  either  hand  were  now  ablaze  from  cellar  to  garret, 
like  huge  torches.  The  burning  cinders  fell  on  them  in 
showers,  the  heat  was  so  intense  that  the  hair  on  their  head 
and  face  was  singed,  and  when  they  came  out  on  the  quai 
they  stood  for  a  moment  dazed  and  blinded  by  the  terrific 
light  of  the  conflagrations,  rearing  their  tall  crests  heaven- 
ward, on  either  side  the  Seine. 

"  One  wouldn't  need  a  candle  to  go  to  bed  by  here,"  grum- 
bled Jean,  with  whose  plans  the  illumination  promised  to  inter- 
fere. And  it  was  only  when  he  had  helped  Maurice  down  the 
steps  to  the  left  and  a  little  way  down  stream  from  the  bridge 
that  he  felt  somewhat  easy  in  mind.  There  was  a  clump  of. 
tall  trees  standing  on  the  bank  of  the  stream,  whose  shadow 
gave  them  a  measure  of  security.  For  near  a  quarter  of  an 
hour  the  dark  forms  moving  to  and  fro  on  the  opposite  quai 
kept  them  in  a  fever  of  apprehension.  There  was  firing,  a 
scream  was  heard,  succeeded  by  a  loud  splash,  and  the  bosom 
of  the  river  was  disturbed.  The  bridge  was  evidently 
guarded. 

"  Suppose   we   pass   the   night  in  that  shed  ? "  suggested 


THE   DOWNFALL.  $43 

Maurice,  pointing  to  the  wooden  structure  that  served  the 
boatman  as  an  office. 

"  Yes,  and  get  pinched  to-morrow  morning  !  " 

Jean  was  still  harboring  his  idea.  He  had  found  quite  a 
flotilla  of  small  boats  there,  but  they  were  all  securely  fastened 
with  chains  ;  how  was  he  to  get  one  loose  and  secure  a  pair 
of  oars  ?  At  last  he  discovered  two  oars  that  had  been 
thrown  aside  as  useless  ;  he  succeeded  in  forcing  a  padlock, 
and  when  he  had  stowed  Maurice  away  in  the  bow,  shoved  off 
and  allowed  the  boat  to  drift  with  the  current,  cautiously 
hugging  the  shore  and  keeping  in  the  shadow  of  the  bathing- 
houses.  Neither  of  them  spoke  a  word,  horror-stricken  as 
they  were  by  the  baleful  spectacle  that  presented  itself  to  their 
vision.  As  they  floated  down  the  stream  and  their  horizon 
widened  the  enormity  of  the  terrible  sight  increased,  and 
when  they  reached  the  bridge  of  Solferino  a  single  glance  suf- 
ficed to  embrace  both  the  blazing  quais. 

On  their  left  the  palace  of  the  Tuileries  was  burning.  It 
was  not  yet  dark  when  the  Communists  had  fired  the  two  ex- 
tremities of  the  structure,  the  Pavilion  de  Flore  and  the 
Pavilion  de  Marsan,  and  with  rapid  strides  the  flames  had 
gained  the  Pavilion  de  1'Horloge  in  the  central  portion,  beneath 
which,  in  the  Salle  des  Marechaux,  a  mine  had  been  prepared 
by  stacking  up  casks  of  powder.  At  that  moment  the  inter- 
vening buildings  were  belching  from  their  shattered  windows 
dense  volumes  of  reddish  smoke,  streaked  with  long  ribbons 
of  blue  flame.  The  roofs,  yawning  as  does  the  earth  in 
regions  where  volcanic  agencies  prevail,  were  seamed  with 
great  cracks  through  which  the  raging  sea  of  fire  beneath  was 
visible.  But  the  grandest,. saddest  spectacle  of  all  was  that 
afforded  by  the  Pavilion  de  Flore,  to  which  the  torch  had 
been  earliest  applied  and  which  was  ablaze  from-  its  foun- 
dation to  its  lofty  summit,  burning  with  a  deep,  fierce  roar 
that  could  be  heard  far  away.  The  petroleum  with  which 
the  floors  and  hangings  had  been  soaked  gave  the  flames  an 
intensity  such  that  the  ironwork  of  the  balconies  was  seen  to 
twist  and  writhe  in  the  convolutions  of  a  serpent,  and  the  tall 
monumental  chimneys,  with  their  elaborate  carvings,  glowed 
with  the  fervor  of  live  coals. 

Then,  still  on  their  left,  were,  first,  the  Chancell^rie  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor,  which  was  fired  at  five  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon and  had  been  burning  nearly  seven  hours,  and  next,  the 
Palace  of  the  Council  of  State,  a  huge  rectangular  structure  of 


544  THE  DOWNFALL. 

jj 

stone,  which  was  spouting  torrents  of  fire  from  every  orifice 
in  each  of  its  two  colonnaded  stories.  The  four  structures 
surrounding  the  great  central  court  had  all  caught  at  the 
same  moment,  and  .the  petroleum,  which  here  also  had  been 
distributed  by  the  barrelful,  had  poured  down  the  four  grand 
staircases  at  the  four  corners  of  the  building  in  rivers  of  hell- 
fire.  On  the  fa£ade  that  faced  the  river  the  black  line  of  the 
mansard  was  profiled  distinctly  against  the  ruddy  sky,  amid 
the  red  tongues  that  rose  to  lick  its  base,  while  colonnades, 
entablatures,  friezes,  carvings,  all  stood  out  with  startling 
vividness  in  the  blinding,  shimmering  glow.  So  great  was  the 
energy  of  the  fire,  so  terrible  its  propulsive  force,  that  the 
colossal  structure  was  in  some  sort  raised  bodily  from  the 
earth,  trembling  and  rumbling  on  its  foundations,  preserving 
intact  only  its  four  massive  walls,  in  the  fierce  eruption  that 
hurled  its  heavy  zinc  roof  high  in  air.  Then,  close  at  one 
side  were  the  d'Orsay  barracks,  which  burned  with  a  flame 
that  seemed  to  pierce  the  heavens,  so  purely  white  and  so  un- 
wavering that  it  was  like  a  tower  of  light.  And  finally,  back 
from  the  river,  were  still  other  fires,  the  seven  houses  in  the 
Rue  du  Bac,  the  twenty-two  houses  in  the  Rue  de  Lille,  help- 
ing to  tinge  the  sky  a  deeper  crimson,  profiling  their  flames  on 
other  flames,  in  a  blood-red  ocean  that  seemed  to  have  no 
end. 

Jean  murmured  in  awed  tone  : 

"  Did  ever  mortal  man  look  on  the  like  of  this !  the  very 
river  is  on  fire." 

Their  boat  seemed  to  be  sailing  on  the  bosom  of  an  incan- 
descent stream.  As  the  dancing  lights  of  the  mighty  confla- 
grations were  caught  by  the  ripples  of  the  current  the  Seine 
seemed  to  be  pouring  down  torrents  of  living  coals  ;  flashes 
of  intensest  crimson  played  fitfully  across  its  surface,  the  blaz- 
ing brands  fell  in  showers  into  the  water  and  were  extinguished 
with  a  hiss.  And  ever  they  floated  downward  with  the  tide 
on  the  bosom  of  that  blood-red  stream,  between  the  blazing 
palaces  on  either  hand,  like  wayfarers  in  some  accursed  city, 
doomed  to  destruction  and  burning  on  the  banks  of  a  river  of 
molten  lava. 

"  Ah  ! "  exclaimed  Maurice,  with  a  fresh  access  of  madness 
at  the  sight  of  the  havoc  he  had  longed  for,  "  let  it  burn,  let 
it  all  go  up  in  smoke  !  " 

But  Jean  silenced  him  with  a  terrified  gesture,  as  if  he  feared 
such  blasphemy  might  bring  them  evil.  Where  could  a  young 


THE  DOWNFALL.  545 

man  whom  he  loved  so  fondly,  so  delicately  nurtured,  so  well 
informed,  have  picked  up  such  ideas?  And  he  applied  him- 
self  more  vigorously  to  the  oars,  for  they  had  now  passed  the 
bridge  of  Solferino  and  were  come  out  into  a  wide  open  space 
of  water.  The  light  was  so  intense  that  the  river  was  illumin- 
ated as  by  the  noonday  sun  when  it  stands  vertically  above 
men's  heads  and  casts  no  shadow.  The  most  minute  objects, 
such  as  the  eddies  in  the  stream,  the  stones  piled  on  the  banks, 
the  small  trees  along  the  quais,  stood  out  before  their  vision  with 
wonderful  distinctness.  The  bridges,  too,  were  particularly 
noticeable  in  their  dazzling  whUeness,  and  so  clearly  defined 
that  they  could  have  counted  e'very  stone  ;  they  had  the  ap- 
pearance of  narrow  gangways  thrown  across  the  fiery  stream 
to  connect  one  conflagration  with  the  other.  Amid  the  roar 
of  the  flames  and  the  general  clamor  a  loud  crash  occasionally 
anounced  the  fall  of  some  stately  edifice.  Dense  clouds  of 
soot  hung  in  the  air  and  settled  everywhere,  the  wind  brought 
odors  of  pestilence  on  its  wings.  And  another  horror  was 
that  Paris,  those  more  distant  quarters  of  the  city  that  lay  back 
from  the  banks  of  the  Seine,  had  ceased  to  exist  for  them.  To 
right  and  left  of  the  conflagration  that  raged  with  such  fierce 
resplendency  was  an  unfathomable  gulf  of  blackness  ;  all  that 
presented  itself  to  their  strained  gaze  was  a  vast  waste  of  shadow, 
an  empty  void,  as  if  the  devouring  element  had  reached  the 
utmost  limits  of  the  city  and  all  Paris  were  swallowed  up  in  ever- 
lasting night.  And  the  heavens,  too,  were  dead  and  lifeless  ; 
the  flames  rose  so  high  that  they  extinguished  the  stars. 

Maurice,  Who  was  becoming  delirious,  laughed  wildly. 
"  High  carnival  at  the  Consoil  d'Etat  and  at  the  Tuileries  to- 
night !  They  have  illuminated  the  fa£ades,  women  are 
dancing  beneath  the  sparkling  chandeliers.  Ah,  dance, 
dance  and  be  merry,  in  your  smoking  petticoats,  with  your 
chignons  ablaze " 

And  he  drew  a  picture  of  the  feasts  of  Sodom  and  Go- 
morrah, the  music,  the  lights,  the  flowers,  the  unmentionable 
orgies  of  lust  and  drunkenness,  until  the  candles  on  the  walls 
blushed  at  the  shamelessness  of  the  display  and  fired  the 
palaces  that  sheltered  such  depravity.  Suddenly  there  was  a 
terrific  explosion.  The  fire,  approaching  from  either  extremity 
of  the  Tuileries,  had  reached  the  Salle  des  Marechaux,  the 
casks  of  powder  caught,  the  Pavilion  de  1'Horloge  was  blown 
into  the  air  with  the  violence  of  a  powder  mill.  A  column  of 
flame  mounted  high  in  the  heavens,  and  spreading,  expanded 


54&  THE  DOWNFALL. 

in  a  great  fiery  plume  on  the  inky  blackness  of  the  sky,  the 
crowning  display  of  the  horrid  fete. 

"  Bravo  ! "  exclaimed  Maurice,  as  at  the  end  of  the  play, 
when  the  lights  are  extinguished  and  darkness  settles  on  the 
stage. 

Again  Jean,  in  stammering,  disconnected  sentences,  be- 
sought him  to  be  quiet.  No,  no,  it  was  not  right  to  wish  evil 
to  anyone  !  And  if  they  invoked  destruction,  would  not  they 
themselves  perish  in  the  general  ruin  ?  His  sole  desire  was  to 
find  a  landing  place  so  that  he  might  no  longer  have  that 
horrid  spectacle  before  his  eyes.  He  considered  it  best  not  to 
attempt  to  land  at  the  Pont  de*  la  Concorde,  but,  rounding  the 
elbow  of  the  Seine,  pulled  on  until  they  reached  the  Quai 
de  la  Conference,  and  even  at  that  critical  moment,  instead  of 
shoving  the  skiff  out  into  the  stream  to  take  its  chances,  he 
wasted  some  precious  moments  in  securing  it,  in  his  instinc- 
tive respect  for  the  property  of  others.  While  doing  this  he 
had  seated  Maurice  comfortably  on  the  bank  ;  his  plan  was  to 
reach  the  Rue  des  Orties  through  the  Place  de  la  Concorde  and 
the  Rue  Saint- Honore".  Before  proceeding  further  he  climbed 
alone  to  the  top  of  the  steps  that  ascended  from  the  quai  to 
explore  the  ground,  and  on  witnessing  the  obstacles  they 
would  have  to  surmount  his  courage  was  almost  daunted. 
There  lay  the  impregnable  fortress  of  the  Commune,  the 
terrace  of  the  Tuileries  bristling  with  cannon,  the  Rues 
Royale,  Florentin,  and  Rivoli  obstructed  by  lofty  and  massive 
barricades  ;  and  this  state  -of  affairs  explained  the  tactics  of 
the  army  of  Versailles,  whose  line  that  night  described  an  im- 
mense arc,  the  center  and  apex  resting  on  the  Place  de  la 
Concorde,  one  of  the  two  extremities  being  at  the  freight 
de"pot  of  the  Northern  Railway  on  the  right  bank,  the  other 
on  the  left  bank,  at  one  of  the  bastions  of  the  ramparts,  near 
the  gate  of  Arcueil.  But  as  the  night  advanced  the  Commun- 
ards had  evacuated  the  Tuileries  and  the  barricades  and  the 
regular  troops  had  taken  possession  of  the  quartier  in  the 
midst  of  further  conflagrations  ;  twelve  houses  at  the  junction 
of  the  Rue  Saint-Honor^  and  the  Rue  Royale  had  been  burn- 
ing since  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening. 

When  Jean  descended  the  steps  and  reached  the  river-bank 
again  he  found  Maurice  in  a  semi-comatose  condition,  the 
effects  of  the  reaction  after  his  hysterical  outbreak. 

"  It  will  be  no  easy  job.  I  hope  you  are  going  to  be 
able  to  walk,  youngster  ?  " 


THE  DOWNFALL.  547 

"Yes,   yes;  don't   be   alarmed.     I'll   get   there   somehow, 
alive  or  dead." 

It  was  not  without  great  difficulty  that  he  climbed  the  stone 
steps,  and  when  he  reached  the  level  ground  of  the  quat  a 
the  summit  he  walked  very  slowly,  supported  by  his  qqg* 
panion's   arm,   with   the   shuffling   gait   of    a    s 
The  day  had  not  dawned  yet,  but  the  reflected  ; 
burning  buildings  cast  a  lurid  illumination  < 
They  made  their  way  in  silence  across  r 

at  heart  to  behold  the  mournfy!       >  uionit'pre- 

sented^  e|and  at  the 

»  irthgi  enci  01  uie  "kue  -isxtyale,  they  could  faintly  discern 
the  s  "irtfttUrf  the  Palais  Bourbon  and  the  Church  of 

the  Madeleine,  torn  by  'shot  and  shell.  The  terrace  of  the 
Tuileries  had  been  breached  by  the  fire  of  the  siege  guns  and 
was  partially  in  ruins.  On  the  Place  itself  the  bronze  railings 
and  ornaments  of  the  fountains  had  been  chipped  and  defaced 
by  the  balls  ;  the  colossal  statue  of  Lille  lay  on  the  ground 
shattered  by  a  projectile,  while  near  at  hand  the  statue  of 
Strasbourg,  shrouded  in  heavy  veils  of  crape,  seemed  to  be 
mourning  the  ruin  that  surrounded  it  on  every  side.  And 
near  the  Obelisk,  which  had  escaped  unscathed,  a  gaspipe  in 
its  trench  had  been  broken  by  the  pick  of  a  careless  work- 
man, and  the  escaping  gas,  fired  by  some  accident,  was  flaring 
up  in  a  great  undulating  jet,  with  a  roaring,  hissing  sound. 

Jean  gave  a  wide  berth  to  the  barricade  erected  across  the 
Rue  Royale  between  the  Ministry  of  Marine  and  the  Garde- 
Meuble,  both  of  which  the  fire  had  spared  ;  he  could  hear  the 
voices  of  the  soldiers  behind  the  sand  bags  and  casks  of  earth 
with  which  it  was  constructed.  Its  front  was  protected  by  a 
ditch,  filled  with  stagnant,  greenish  water,  in  which  was  float- 
ing the  dead  body  of  a  federate,  and  through  one  of  its  em- 
brasures they  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  houses  in  the  carrefour 
Saint-Honore",  which  were  burning  still  in  spite  of  the  engines 
that  had  come  in  from  the  suburbs,  of  which  they  heard  the 
roar  and  clatter.  To  right  and  left  the  trees  and  the  kiosks 
of  the  newspaper  venders  were  riddled  by  the  storm  of  bullets 
to  which  they  had  been  subjected.  Loud  cries  of  horror 
arose  ;  the  firemen,  in  exploring  the  cellar  of  one  of  the  burn- 
ing houses,  had  come  across  the  charred  bodies  of  seven  of  its 
inmates. 

Although  the  barricade  that  closed  the  entrance  to  the  Rue 
Saint-Florentin  and  the  Rue  de  Rivoli  by  its  skilled  construe- 


548  THE  DOWNFALL. 

tion  and  great  height  appeared  even  more  formidable  than  the 

other,  Jean's  instinct  told  him  they  would  have  less  difficulty 

J*  getting  by  it.     It  was  completely  evacuated,  indeed,  and 

JBLersailles  troops  had  not  yet  entered  it.     The  abandoned 

e  resting  in  the  embrasures  in  peaceful  slumber,  the 

•••niching  behind  that  invincible  rampart  was  a  stray 

HJecUway  in  haste.     But  as  Jean  was  making 

whuffeffei   >     J«/d  along  the  Rue  Saint-Florentin,  sustaining 

th   was  giving  out,  that   which  he  had 

been  in  fi  'ss  5  lne>r  fell  directly  into  the  arms 

of  an  entirellfc).  ?f'  the  j»»e,  which  had  turned 

the  barricade.  ^^J 

"  Captain,"  he  explained.  "  this  K 

has  just  been  wounded  by  those  banditsrTan^^HHHB"111  to 
the  hospital." 

It  was  then  that  the  capote  which  he  had  thrown  over 
Maurice's  shoulders  stood  them  in  good  stead,  and  Jean's 
heart  was  beating  like  a  trip-hammer  as  at  last  they  turned 
into  the  Rue  Saint-Honore.  Day  was  just  breaking,  and  the 
sound  of  shots  reached  their  ears  from  the  cross-streets,  for 
fighting  was  going  on  still  throughout  the  quartier.  It  was  little 
short  of  a  miracle  that  they  finally  reached  the  Rue  des 
Frondeurs  without  sustaining  any  more  disagreeable  adven- 
ture. Their  progress  was  extremely  slow ;  the  last  four  or 
five  hundred  yards  appeared  interminable.  In  the  Rue  des 
Frondeurs  they  struck  up  against  a  gommunist  picket,  but  the 
federates,  thinking  a  whole  regiment  was  at  hand,  took  to 
their  heels.  And  now  they  had  but  a  short  bit  of  the  Rue 
d'Argenteuil  to  traverse  and  they  would  be  safe  in  the  Rue  des 
Orties. 

For  four  long  hours  that  seemed  like  an  eternity  Jean's 
longing  desire  had  been  bent  on  that  Rue  des  Orties  with 
feverish  impatience,  and  now  they  were  there  it  appeared  like 
a  haven  of  safety.  It  was  dark,  silent,  and  deserted,  as  if 
there  were  no  battle  raging  within  a  hundred  leagues  of  it. 
The  house,  an  old,  narrow  house  without  a  concierge,  was  still 
as  the  grave. 

"  I  have  the  keys  in  my  pocket,"  murmured  Maurice.  "  The 
big  one  opens  the  street  door,  the  little  one  is  the  key  of  my 
room,  way  at  the  top  of  the  house." 

He  succumbed  and  fainted  dead  away  in  Jean's  arms,  whose 
alarm  and  distress  were  extreme.  They  made  him  forget  to 
close  the  outer  door,  and  he  had  to  grope  his  way  up  that 


THE  DOWNFALL.  549 

strange,  dark  staircase,  bearing  his  lifeless  burden  and  ob- 
serving the  greatest  caution  not  to  stumble  or  make  any  noise 
that  might  arouse  the  sleeping  inmates  of  the  rooms.  When 
he  had  gained  the  top  he  had  to  deposit  the  wounded  man  on 
the  floor  while  he  searched  for  the  chamber  door  by  striking 
matches,  of  which  he  fortunately  had  a  supply  in  his  pocket, 
and  only  when  he  had  found  and  opened  it  did  he  return  and 
raise  him  in  his  arms  again.  Entering,  he  laid  him  on  the 
little  iron  bed  that  faced  the  window,  which  he  threw  open  to 
its  full  extent  in  his  great  need  of  air  and  light.  It  was  broad 
day ;  he  dropped  on  his  knees  beside  the  bed,  sobbing  as  if  his 
heart  would  break,  suddenly  abandoned  by  all  his  strength  as 
the  fearful  thought  again  smote  him  that  he  had  slain  his 
friend. 

Minutes  passed  ;  he  was  hardly  surprised  when,  raising  his 
eyes,  he  saw  Henriette  standing  by  the  bed.  It  was  perfectly 
natural  :  her  brother  was  dying,  she  had  come.  He  had  not 
even  seen  her  enter  the  room  ;  for  all  he  knew  she  might  have 
been  standing  there  for  hours.  He  sank  intg  a  chair  and 
watched  her  with  stupid  eyes  as  she  hovered  about  the  bed, 
her  heart  wrung  with  mortal  anguish  at  sight  of  her  brother 
lying  there  senseless,  in  his  blood-stained  garments.  Then 
his  memory  began  to  act  again  ;  he  asked  : 

"  Tell  me,  did  you  close  the  street  door?" 

She  answered  with  an  affirmative  motion  of  the  head,  and 
as  she  came  toward  him,  extending  her  two  hands  in  her  great 
need  of  sympathy  and  support,  he  added  : 

"  You  know  it  was  I  who  killed  him." 

She  did  not  understand  ;  she  did  not  believe  him.  He  felt 
no  flutter  in  the  two  little  hands  that  rested  confidingly  in  his 

OW'J. 

"  It  was  I  who  killed  him — yes,  'twas  over  yonder,  behind 
a  barricade,  I  did  it.  He  was  fighting  on  one  side,  I  on  the 
other " 

There  began  to  be  a  fluttering  of  the  little  hands. 

"  We  were  like  drunken  men,  none  of  us  knew  what  he 
was  about — it  was  I  who  killed  him." 

Then  Henriette,  shivering,  pale  as  death,  withdrew  her 
hands,  fixing  on  him  a  gaze  that  was  full  of  horror.  Father 
of  Mercy,  was  the  end  of  all  things  come  !  was  her  crushed 
and  bleeding  heart  to  know  no  peace  for  ever  more  !  Ah, 
that  Jean,  of  whom  she  had  been  thinking  that  very  day, 
happy  in  the  unshaped  hope  that  perhaps  she  might  see  him 


55®  THE  DOWNFALL. 

once  again  !  And  it  was  he  who  had  done  that  abominable 
thing ;  and  yet  he  had  saved  Maurice,  for  was  it  not  he  who 
had  brought  him  home  through  so  many  perils  ?  She  could 
not  yield  her  hands  to  him  now  without  a  revolt  of  all  her 
being,  but  she  uttered  a  cry  into  which  she  threw  the  last 
hope  of  her  tortured  and  distracted  heart. 

"Oh  !  I  will  save  him  ;  I  must  save  him,  now  !  " 

She  had  acquired  considerable  experience  in  surgery  during 
the  long  time  she  had  been  in  attendance  on  the  hospital  at 
Remilly,  and  now  she  proceeded  without  delay  to  examine  her 
brother's  hurt,  who  remained  unconscious  while  she  was  un- 
dressing him.  But  when  she  undid  the  rude  bandage  of 
Jean's  invention,  he  stirred  feebly  and  uttered  a  faint  cry  of 
pain,  opening  wide  his  eyes  that  were  bright  with  fever.  He 
recognized  her  at  once  and  smiled. 

"You  here  !  Ah,  how  glad  I  am  to  see  you  once  more  be- 
fore I  die  ! " 

She  silenced  him,  speaking  in  a  tone  of  cheerful  confidence. 

"  Hush,  doq't  talk  of  dying  ;  I  won't  allow  it !  I  mean  that 
you  shall  live  !  There,  be  quiet,  and  let  me  see  what  is  to  be 
done." 

However,  when  Henriette  had  examined  the  injured  arm  and 
the  wound  in  the  side,  her  face  became  clouded  and  a  trou- 
bled look  rose  to  her  eyes.  She  installed  herself  as  mistress 
in  the  room,  searching  until  she  found  a  little  oil,  tearing  up 
old  shirts  for  bandages,  while  Jean  descended  to  the  lower 
regions  for  a  pitcher  of  water.  He  did  not  open  his  mouth, 
but  looked  on  in  silence  as  she  washed  and  deftly  dressed  the 
wounds,  incapable  of  aiding  her,  seemingly  deprived  of  all 
power  of  action  by  her  presence  there.  When  she  had  con- 
cluded her  task,  however,  noticing  her  alarmed  expression,  he 
proposed  to  her  that  he  should  go  and  secure  a  doctor,  but 
she  was  in  possession  of  all  her  clear  intelligence.  No,  no  ;  she 
would  not  have  a  chance-met  doctor,  of  whom  they  knew 
nothing,  who,  perhaps,  would  betray  her  brother  to  the  au- 
thorities. They  must  have  a  man  they  could  depend  on  ;  they 
could  afford  to  wait  a  few  hours.  Finally,  when  Jean  said  he 
must  go  and  report  for  duty  with  his  company,  it  was  agreed 
that  he  should  return  as  soon  as  he  could  get  away,  and  try  to 
bring  a  surgeon  with  him. 

He  delayed  his  departure,  seemingly  unable  to  make  up  his 
mind  to  leave  that  room,  whose  atmosphere  was  pervaded  by 
the  evil  he  had  unintentionally  done.  The  window,  which  had 


THE  DOWNFALL.  551 

been  closed  for  a  moment,  had  been  opened  again,  and  from 
it  the  wounded  man,  lying  on  his  bed,  his  head  propped  up 
by  pillows,  was  looking  out  over  the  city,  while  the  others, 
also,  in  the  oppressive  silence  that  had  settled  on  the  cham- 
ber, were  gazing  out  into  vacancy. 

From  that  elevated  point  of  the  Butte  des  Moulins  a  good 
half  of  Paris  lay  stretched  beneath  their  eyes  in  a  vast  pano- 
rama :  first  the  central  districts,  from  the  Faubourg  Saint- 
Honore  to  the  Bastille,  then  the  Seine  in  its  entire  course 
through  the  city,  with  the  thickly-built,  densely-populated  re- 
gions of  the  left  bank,  an  ocean  of  roofs,  treetops,  steeples, 
domes,  and  towers.  The  light  was  growing  stronger,  the 
abominable  night,  than  which  there  have  been  few  more  terri- 
ble in  history,  was  ended  ;  but  beneath  the  rosy  sky,  in  the 
pure,  clear  light  of  the  rising  sun,  the  fires  were  blazing  still. 
Before  them  lay  the  burning  Tuileries,  the  d'Orsay  barracks, 
the  Palaces  of  the  Council  of  State  and  the  Legion  of  Honor, 
the  flames  from  which  were  paled  by  the  superior  refulgence 
of  the  day-star.  Even  beyond  the  houses  in  the  Rue  de  Lille 
and  the  Rue  du  Bac  there  must  have  been  other  structures 
burning,  for  clouds  of  smoke  were  visible  rising  from  the  car- 
refour  of  la  Croix-Rouge,  and,  more  distant  still,  from  the 
Rue  Vavin  and  the  Rue  Notre-Dame-des-Champs.  Nearer  at 
hand  and  to  their  right  the  fires  in  the  Rue  Saint-Honor^  were 
dying  out,  while  to  the  left,  at  the  Palais-Royal  and  the  new 
Louvre,  to  which  the  torch  had  not  been  applied  until  near 
morning,  the  work  of  the  incendiaries  was  apparently  a  fail- 
ure. But  what  they  were  unable  to  account  for  at  first  was 
the  dense  volume  of  black  smoke  which,  impelled  by  the  west 
wind,  came  driving  past  their  window.  Fire  had  been  set  to 
the  Ministry  of  Finance  at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and 
ever  since  that  time  it  had  been  smoldering,  emitting  no  blaze, 
among  the  stacks  and  piles  of  documents  that  were  contained 
in  the  low-ceiled,  fire-proof  vaults  and  chambers.  And  if  the 
terrific  impressions  of  the  night  were  not  there  to  preside 
at  the  awakening  of  the  great  city — the  fear  of  total  destruc- 
tion, the  Seine  pouring  its  fiery  waves  past  their  doors,  Paris 
kindling  into  flame  from  end  to  end — a  feeling  of  gloom  and 
despair  hung  heavy  over  the  quartiers  that  had  been 
spared,  with  that  dense,  on-pouring  smoke,  whose  dusky  cloud 
was  ever  spreading.  Presently  the  sun,  which  had  risen  bright 
and  clear,  was  hid  by  it,  and  all  the  golden  sky  was  filled  with 
the  great  funeral  pall. 


55 2  THE  DOWNFALL. 

Maurice,  who  appeared  to  be  delirious  again,  made  a  slow, 
sweeping  gesture  that  embraced  the  entire  horizon,  murmur- 
ing : 

"  Is  it  all  burning?     Ah,  how  long  it  takes  !  " 

Tears  rose  to  Henriette's  eyes,  as  if  her  burden  of  misery 
was  made  heavier  for  her  by  the  share  her  brother  had  had  in 
those  deeds  of  horror.  And  Jean,  who  dared  neither  take  her 
hand  nor  embrace  his  friend,  left  the  room  with  the  air  of  one 
crazed  by  grief. 

"  I  will  return  soon.     Au  revoir  !  " 

It  was  dark,  however,  nearly  eight  o'clock,  before  he  was 
able  to  redeem  his  promise.  Notwithstanding  his  great  dis- 
tress he  was  happy;  his  regiment  had  been  transferred  from 
the  first  to  the  second  line  and  assigned  the  task  of  protecting 
the  quartier,  so  that,  bivouacking  with  his  company  in  the 
Place  du  Carrousel,  he  hoped  to  get  a  chance  to  run  in  each 
evening  to  see  how  the  wounded  man  was  getting  on.  And  he 
tlid  not  return  alone  ;  as  luck  would  have  it  he  had  fallen  in 
with  the  former  surgeon  of  the  io6th  and  had  brought  him 
along  with  him,  having  been  unable  to  find  another  doctor, 
consoling  himself  with  the  reflection  that  the  terrible,  big  man 
with  the  lion's  mane  was  not  such  a  bad  sort  of  fellow  after 
all. 

When  Bouroche,  who  knew  nothing  of  the  patient  he  was 
summoned  with  such  insistence  to  attend  and  grumbled  at 
having  to  climb  so  many  stairs,  learned  that  it  was  a  Com- 
munist he  had  on  his  hands  he  commenced  to  storm. 

"  God's  thunder,  what  do  you  take  me  for  ?  Do  you  sup- 
pose I'm  going  to  waste  my  time  on  those  thieving,  murdering, 
house-burning  scoundrels?  As  for  this  particular  bandit,  his 
case  is  clear,  and  I'll  take  it  upon  me  to  see  he  is  cured  ;  yes, 
with  a  bullet  in  his  head  !  " 

But  his  anger  subsided  suddenly  at  sight  of  Henriette's  pale 
face  and  her  golden  hair  streaming  in  disorder  over  her  black 
dress. 

"  He  is  my  brother,  doctor,  and  he  was  with  you  at  Sedan." 

He  made  no  reply,  but  uncovered  the  injuries  and  examined 
them  in  silence  ;  then,  taking  some  phials  from  his  pocket,  he 
made  a  fresh  dressing,  explaining  to  the  young  woman  how  it 
was  done.  When  he  had  finished  he  turned  suddenly  to  the 
patient,  and  asked  in  his  loud,  rough  voice  : 

"Why  did  you  take  sides  with  those  ruffians?  What 
possessed  you  to  be  guilty  of  such  an  abomination  ?  " 


DOWNFALL.  553 

Maurice,  with  a  feverish  luster  in  his  eyes,  had  been  watch- 
ing him  since  he  entered  the  room,  but  no  word  had  escaped 
his  lips.  He  answered  in  a  voice  that  was  almost  fierce,  so 
eager  was  it  : 

"  Because  there  is  too  much  suffering  in  the  world,  too 
much  wickedness,  too  much  infamy  !  " 

Bouroche's  shrug  of  the  shoulders  seemed  to  indicate  that 
he  thought  a  young  man  was  likely  to  make  his  mark  who 
carried  such  ideas  about  in  his  head.  He  appeared  to  be 
about  to  say  something  further,  but  changed  his  mind  and 
bowed  himself  out,  simply  adding: 

"  I  will  come  in  again." 

To  Henriette,  on  the  landing,  he  said  he  would  not  venture 
to  make  any  promises.  The  injury  to  the  lung  was  serious  ; 
hemorrhage  might  set  in  and  carry  off  the  patient  without  a 
moment's  warning.  And  when  she  re-entered  the  room  she 
forced  a  smile  to  her  lips,  notwithstanding  the  sharp  stab  with 
which  the  doctor's  words  had  pierced  her  heart,  for  had  she 
not  promised  herself  to  save  him  ?  and  could  she  permit  him 
to  be  snatched  from  them  now  that  they  three  were  again 
united,  with  a  prospect  of  a  lifetime  of  affection  and  happi- 
ness before  them?  She  had  not  left  the  room  since  morning, % 
an  old  woman  who  lived  on  the  landing  having  kindly  offered 
to  act  as  her  messenger  for  the  purchase  of  such  things  as  she 
required.  And  she  returned  and  resumed  her  place  upon  a 
chair  at  her  brother's  bedside. 

But  Maurice,  in  his  febrile  excitation,  questioned  Jean, 
insisting  on  knowing  what  had  happened  since  the  morning. 
The  latter  did  not  tell  him  everything,  maintaining  a  discreet 
silence  upon  the  furious  rage  which  Paris,  now  it  was  delivered 
from  its  tyrants,  was  manifesting  toward  the  dying  Commune. 
It  was  now  Wednesday.  For  two  interminable  days  succeed- 
ing the  Sunday  evening  when  the  conflict  first  broke  out  the 
citizens  had  lived  in  their  cellars,  quaking  with  fear,  and  when 
they  ventured  out  at  last  on  Wednesday  morning,  the  spec- 
tacle of  bloodshed  and  devastation  that  met  their  eyes  on 
every  side,  and  more  particularly  the  frightful  ruin  entailed 
by  the  conflagrations,  aroused  in  their  breasts  feelings  the  bit- 
terest and  most  vindictive.  It  was  felt  in  every  quarter  that 
the  punishment  must  be  worthy  of  the  crime.  The  houses  in 
the  suspected  quarters  were  subjected  to  a  rigorous  search,  and 
men  and  women  who  were  at  all  tainted  with  suspicion  were 
led  away  in  droves  and  shot  without  the  formality  of  an  exam- 


554  THE  DOWNFALL. 

ination.  At  six  o'clock  of  the  evening  of  that  day  the  army 
of  the  Versaillese  was  master  of  the  half  of  Paris,  following  the 
line  of  the  principal  avenues  from  the  park  of  Montsouris  to  the 
station  of  the  Northern  Railway,  and  the  remainder  of  the 
braver  members  of  the  Commune,  a  mere  handful,  some 
twenty  or  so,  had  taken  refuge  in  the  mairie  of  the  eleventh 
arrondissement,  in  the  Boulevard  Voltaire. 

They  were  silent  when  he  concluded  his  narration,  and 
Maurice,  his  glance  vaguely  wandering  over  the  city  through 
the  open  window  that  let  in  the  soft,  warm  air  of  evening, 
murmured  : 

"Well,  the  work  goes  on  ;  Paris  continues  to  burn  !  " 
It  was  true  :  the  flames  were  becoming  visible  again  in  the 
increasing  darkness  and  the  heavens  were  reddened  once 
more  with  the  ill-omened  light.  That  afternoon  the  powder 
magazine  at  the  Luxembourg  had  exploded  with  a  frightful 
detonation,  which  gave  rise  to  a  report  that  the  Pantheon  had 
collapsed  and  sunk  into  the  catacombs.  All  that  day,  more- 
over, the  conflagrations  of  the  night  pursued  their  course  un- 
checked ;  the  Palace  of  the  Council  of  State  and  the 
Tuileries  were  burning  still,  the  Ministry  of  Finance  con- 
tinued to  belch  forth  its  billowing  clouds  of  smoke.  A  dozen 
times  Henriette  was  obliged  to  close  the  window  against  the 
shower  of  blackened,  burning  paper  that  the  hot  breath  of  the 
fire  whirled  upward  into  the  sky,  whence  it  descended  to 
earth  again  in  a  fine  rain  of  fragments ;  the  streets  of  Paris 
were  covered  with  them,  and  some  were  found  in  the  fields  of 
Normandy,  thirty  leagues  away.  And  now  it  was  not  the 
western  and  southern  districts  alone  which  seemed  devoted  to 
destruction,  the  houses  in  the  Rue  Royale  and  those  of  the 
Croix-Rouge  and  the  Rue  Notre-Dame-des-Champs  :  the 
entire  eastern  portion  of  the  city  appeared  to  be  in  flames,  the 
Hotel  de  Ville  glowed  on  the  horizon  like  a  mighty  furnace. 
And  in  that  direction  also,  blazing  like  gigantic  beacon-fires 
upon  the  mountain  tops,  were  the  Theatre-Lyrique,  the  mairie 
of  the  fourth  arrondissement,  and  more  than  thirty  houses 
in  the  adjacent  streets,  to  say  nothing  of  the  theater  of  the 
Porte-Saint-Martin,  further  to  the  north,  which  illuminated 
the  darkness  of  its  locality  as  a  stack  of  grain  lights  up  the 
deserted,  dusky  fields  at  night.  There  is  no  doubt  that  in 
many  cases  the  incendiaries  were  actuated  by  motives  of  per- 
sonal revenge  ;  perhaps,  too,  there  were  criminal  records 
which  the  parties  implicated  had  an  object  in  destroying.  It 


THE  DOWNFALL.  55$ 

was  no  longer  a  question  of  self-defense  with  the  Commune, 
of  checking  the  advance  of  the  victorious  troops  by  fire  ;  a 
delirium  of  destruction  raged  among  its  adherents  :  the 
Palace  of  Justice,  the  Hotel-Dieu  and  the  cathedral  of  Notre- 
Dame  escaped  by  the  merest  chance.  They  would  destroy 
solely  for  the  sake  of  destroying,  would  bury  the  effete,  rotten 
humanity  beneath  the  ruins  of  a  world,  in  the  hope  that  from 
the  ashes  might  spring  a  new  and  innocent  race  that  should 
realize  the  primitive  legends  of  an  earthly  paradise.  And  ajl 
that  night  again  did  the  sea  of  flame  roll  its  waves  over  Paris. 

"  Ah,  war,  war,  what  a  hateful  thing  it  is  !  "  said  Henriette 
to  herself,  looking  out  on  the  sore-smitten  city. 

Was  it  not  indeed  the  last  act,  the  inevitable  conclusion  of 
the  tragedy,  the  blood-madness  for  which  the  lost  fields  of 
Sedan  and  Metz  were  responsible,  the  epidemic  of  destruction 
born  from  the  siege  of  Paris,  the  supreme  struggle  of  a 
nation  in  peril  of  dissolution,  in  the  midst  of  slaughter  and 
universal  ruin? 

But  Maurice,  without  taking  his  eyes  from  the  fires  that 
were  raging  in  the  distance,  feebly,  and  with  an  effort,  mur- 
mured : 

"  No,  no  ;  do  not  be  unjust  toward  war.  It  is  good  ;  it  has 
its  appointed  work  to  do — 

There  were  mingled  hatred  and  remorse  in  the  cry  with 
which  Jean  interrupted  him. 

"  Good  God  !  When  I  see  you  lying  there,  and  know  it  is 

through  my  fault Do  not  say  a  word  in  defense  of  it  ;  it 

is  an  accursed  thing,  is  war  !  " 

The  wounded  man  smiled  faintly. 

"  Oh,  as  for  me,  what  matters  it  ?  There  is  many  another 
in  my  condition.  It  may  be  that  this  blood-letting  was  neces- 
sary for  us.  War  is  life,  which  cannot  exist  without  its  sister, 
death." 

And  Maurice  closed  his  eyes,  exhausted  by  the  effort  it  had 
cost  him  to  utter  those  few  words.  Henriette  signaled  Jean 
not  to  continue  the  discussion.  It  angered  her  ;  all  her  being 
rose  in  protest  against  such  suffering  and  waste  of  human  life, 
notwithstanding  the  calm  bravery  of  her  frail  woman's  nature, 
with  her  clear,  limpid  eyes,  in  which  lived  again  all  the  heroic 
spirit  of  the  grandfather,  the  veteran  of  the  Napoleonic  wars. 

Two  days  more,  Thursday  and  Friday,  passed,  like  their 
predecessors,  amid  scenes  of  slaughter  and  conflagration.  The 
thunder  of  the  artillery  was  incessant  ;  the  batteries  of  the 


556  T&E  DOWNFALL 

army  of  Versailles  on  the  heights  of  Montmartre  roared 
against  those  that  the  federates  had  established  at  Belleville 
and  Pere-Lachaise  without  a  moment's  respite,  while  the 
latter  maintained  a  desultory  fire  on  Paris.  Shells  had  fallen 
in  the  Rue  Richelieu  and  the  Place  Vendome.  At  evening  on 
the  25th  the  entire  left  bank  was  in  possession  of  the  regular 
troops,  but  on  the  right  bank  the  barricades  in  the  Place 
Chateau  d'Eau  and  the  Place  de  la  Bastille  continued  to  hold 
out  ;  they  were  veritable  fortresses,  from  which  proceeded  an 
uninterrupted  and  most  destructive  fire.  At  twilight,  while 
the  last  remaining  members  of  the  Commune  were  stealing 
off  to  make  provision  for  their  safety,  Delescluze  took  his  cane 
and  walked  leisurely  away  to  the  barricade  that  was  thrown 
across  the  Boulevard  Voltaire,  where  he  died  a  hero's  death. 
At  daybreak  on  the  following  morning,  the  26th,  the  Chateau 
d'Eau  and  Bastille  positions  were  carried,  and  the  Communists, 
now  reduced  to  a  handful  of  brave  men  who  were  resolved  to 
sell  their  lives  dearly,  had  only  la  Villette,  Belleville,  and 
Charonne  left  to  them.  And  for  two  more  days  they  remained 
and  fought  there  with  the  fury  of  despair. 

On  Friday  evening,  as  Jean  was  on  his  way  from  the  Place 
du  Carrousel  to  the  Rue  des  Orties,  he  witnessed  a  summary 
execution  in  the  Rue  Richelieu  that  filled  him  with  horror. 
For  the  last  forty-eight  hours  two  courts-martial  had  been 
sitting,  one  at  the  Luxembourg,  the  other  at  the  Theatre  du 
Chatelet  ;  the  prisoners  convicted  by  the  former  were  taken 
into  the  garden  and  shot,  while  those  found  guilty  by  the 
latter  were  dragged  away  to  the  Lobau  barracks,  where  a 
platoon  of  soldiers  that  was  kept  there  in  constant  attendance 
for  the  purpose  mowed  them  down,  almost  at  point-blank 
range.  The  scenes  of  slaughter  there  were  most  horrible  : 
there  were  men  and  women  who  had  been  condemned  to 
death  on  the  flimsiest  evidence  :  because  they  had  a  stain  of 
powder  on  their  hands,  because  their  feet  were  shod  with 
army  shoes  ;  there  were  innocent  persons,  the  victims  of  pri- 
vate malice,  who  had  been  wrongfully  denounced,  shrieking 
forth  their  entreaties  and  explanations  and  finding  no  one  to 
lend  an  ear  to  them  ;  and  all  were  driven  pell-mell  against  a 
wall,  facing  the  muzzles  of  the  muskets,  often  so  many  poor 
wretches  in  the  band  at  once  that  the  bullets  did  not  suffice 
for  all  and  it  became  necessary  to  finish  the  wounded  with 
the  bayonet.  From  morning  until  night  the  place  was  stream- 
ing with  blood ;  the  tumbrils  were  kept  busy  bearing  away  the 


THE  DOWNFALL.  557 

bodies  of  the  dead.  And  throughout  the  length  and  breadth 
of  the  city,  keeping  pace  with  the  revengeful  clamors  of  the 
people,  other  executions  were  continually  taking  place,  in  front 
of  barricades,  against  the  walls  in  the  deserted  streets,  on  the 
steps  of  the  public  buildings.  It  was  under  such  circum- 
stances that  Jean  saw  a  woman  and  two  men  dragged  by  the 
residents  of  the  quartier  before  the  officer  commanding  the 
detachment  that  was  guarding  the  Theatre  Fran9ais.  The 
citizens  showed  themselves  more  bloodthirsty  than  the  sol- 
diery, and  those  among  the  newspapers  that  had  resumed 
publication  were  howling  for  measures  of  extermination.  A 
threatening  crowd  surrounded  the  prisoners  and  was  particu- 
larly violent  against  the  woman,  in  whom  the  excited  bour- 
geois beheld  one  of  those  petroleuses  who  were  the  constant 
bugbear  of  terror-haunted  imaginations,  whom  they  accused  of 
prowling  by  night,  slinking  along  the  darkened  streets  past 
the  dwellings  of  the  wealthy,  to  throw  cans  of  lighted  petro- 
leum into  unprotected  cellars.  This  woman,  was  the  cry,  had 
been  found  bending  over  a  coal-hole  in  the  Rue  Sainte-Anne. 
And  notwithstanding  her  denials,  accompanied  by  tears  and 
supplications,  she  was  hurled,  together  with  the  two  men,  to 
the  bottom  of  the  ditch  in  front  of  an  abandoned  barricade, 
and  there,  lying  in  the  mud  and  slime,  they  were  shot  with  as 
little  pity  as  wolves  caught  in  a  trap.  Some  by-passers 
stopped  and  looked  indifferently  on  the  scene,  among  them  a 
lady  hanging  on  her  husband's  arm,  while  a  baker's  boy,  who 
was  carrying  home  a  tart  to  someone  in  the  neighborhood, 
whistled  the  refrain  of  a  popular  air. 

As  Jean,  sick  at  heart,  was  hurrying  along  the  street  toward 
the  house  in  the  Rue  des  Orties,  a  sudden  recollection  flashed 
across  his  mind.  Was  not  that  Chouteau,  the  former  member 
of  his  squad,  whom  he  had  seen,  in  the  blouse  of  a  respectable 
workman,  watching  the  execution  and  testifying  his  approval 
of  it  in  a  loud-mouthed  way  ?  He  was  a  proficient  in  his  role 
of  bandit,  traitor,  robber,  and  assassin  !  For  a  moment  the 
corporal  thought  he  would  retrace  his  steps,  denounce  him, 
and  send  him  to  keep  company  with  the  other  three.  Ah,  the 
sadness  of  the  thought;  the  guilty  ever  escaping  punishment, 
parading  their  unwhipped  infamy  in  the  bright  light  of  day, 
while  the  innocent  molder  in  the  earth  ! 

Henriette  had  come  out  upon  the  landing  at  the  sound  of 
footsteps  coming  up  the  stairs,  where  she  welcomed  Jean  with 
a  manner  that  indicated  great  alarm. 


S58  THE  DOWNFALL. 

11  'Sh  !  he  has  been  extremely  violent  all  day  long.  The 
major  was  here,  I  am  in  despair " 

Bouroche,  in  fact,  had  shaken  his  head  ominously,  saying 
he  could  promise  nothing  as  yet.  Nevertheless  the  patient 
might  pull  through,  in  spite  of  all  the  evil  consequences  he 
feared  ;  he  had  youth  on  his  side. 

"  Ah,  here  you  are  at  last,"  Maurice  said  impatiently  to 
Jean,  as  soon  as  he  set  eyes  on  him.  "  I  have  been  waiting 
for  you.  What  is  going  on — how  do  matters  stand  ?  "  And 
supported  by  the  pillows  at  his  back,  his  face  to  the  window 
which  he  had  forced  his  sister  to  open  for  him,  he  pointed 
with  his  finger  to  the  city,  where,  on  the  gathering  darkness, 
the  lambent  flames  were  beginning  to  rise  anew.  "  You  see, 
it  is  breaking  out  again  ;  Paris  is  burning.  All  Paris  will  burn 
this  time  !  " 

As  soon  as  daylight  began  to  fade,  the  distant  quarters  be- 
yond the  Seine  had  been  lighted  up  by  the  burning  of  the 
Grenier  d'Abondance.  From  time  to  time  there  was  an  out- 
burst of  flame,  accompanied  by  a  shower  of  sparks,  from  the 
smoking  ruins  of  the  Tuileries,  as  some  wall  or  ceiling  fell 
and  set  the  smoldering  timbers  blazing  afresh.  Many  houses, 
where  the  fire  was  supposed  to  be  extinguished,  flamed  up 
anew  ;  for  the  last  three  days,  as  soon  as  darkness  descended 
on  the  city  it  seemed  as  if  it  were  the  signal  for  the  conflagra- 
tions to  break  out  again  ;  as  if  the  shades  of  night  had  breathed 
upon  the  still  glowing  embers,  reanimating  them,  and  scattering 
them  to  the  four  corners  of  the  horizon.  Ah,  that  city  of  the 
damned,  that  had  harbored  for  a  week  within  its  bosom  the 
demon  of  destruction,  incarnadining  the  sky  each  evening  as 
soon  as  twilight  fell,  illuminating  with  its  infernal  torches  the 
nights  of  that  week  of  slaughter  !  And  when,  that  night,  the 
docks  at  la  Villette  burned,  the  light  they  shed  upon  the  huge 
city  was  so  intense  that  it  seemed  to  be  on  fire  in  every  part 
at  once,  overwhelmed  and  drowned  beneath  the  sea  of  flame. 

"Ah,  it  is  the  end  !  "  Maurice  repeated.    "  Paris  is  doomed  !  " 

He  reiterated  the  words  again  and  again  with  apparent  rel- 
ish, actuated  by  a  feverish  desire  to  hear  the  sound  of  hi?  voice 
once  more,  after  the  dull  lethargy  that  had  kept  him  tongue- 
tied  for  three  days.  But  the  sound  of  stifled  sobs  caused  him 
to  turn  his  head. 

"  What,  sister,  you,  brave  little  woman  that  you  are  1  You 
\eep  because  I  am  about  to  die " 

She  interrupted  him,  protesting : 


THE  DOWNFALL.  559 

^  But  you  are  not  going  to  die  !  " 

"Yes,  yes  ;  it  is  better  it  should  be  so  ;  it  must  be  so.  Ah, 
I  shall  be  no  great  loss  to  anyone.  Up  to  the  time  the  war 
broke  out  I  was  a  source  of  anxiety  to  you,  I  cost  you  dearly  in 
heart  and  purse.  All  the  folly  and  the  madness  I  was  guilty  of, 
and  which  would  have  landed  me,  who  knows  where  ?  in  prison, 
in  the  gutter " 

Again  she  took  the  words  from  his  mouth,  exclaiming 
hotly  : 

"  Hush  !  be  silent  ! — you  have  atoned  for  all." 

He  reflected  a  moment.  "  Yes,  perhaps  I  shall  have  atoned, 
when  I  am  dead.  Ah,  Jean,  old  fellow,  you  didn't  know  what 
a  service  you  were  rendering  us  all  when  you  gave  me  that 
bayonet  thrust." 

But  the  other  protested,  his  eyes  swimming  with  tears  : 

"  Don't,  I  entreat  you,  say  such  things  !  do  you  wish  to  make 
me  go  and  dash  out  my  brains  against  a  wall  ?  " 

Maurice  pursued  his  train  of  thought,  speaking  in  hurried, 
eager  tones. 

"  Remember  what  you  said  to  me  the  day  after  Sedan,  that 
it  was  not  such  a  bad  thing,  now  and  then,  to  receive  a  good 
drubbing.  And  you  added  that  if  a  man  had  gangrene  in  his 
system,  if  he  saw  one  of  his  limbs  wasting  from  mortification, 
it  would  be  better  to  take  an  ax  and  chop  off  that  limb  than 
to  die  from  the  contamination  of  the  poison.  I  have  many  a 
time  thought  of  those  words  since  I  have  been  here,  without  a 
friend,  immured  in  this  city  of  distress  and  madness.  And  I 

am  the  diseased  limb,  and  it  is  you  who  have  lopped  it  off " 

He  went  on  with  increasing  vehemence,  regardless  of  the  sup- 
plications of  his  terrified  auditors,  in  a  fervid  tirade  that  abounded 
with  symbols  and  striking  images.  It  was  the  untainted,  the 
reasoning,  the  substantial  portion  of  France,  the  peasantry,  the 
tillers  of  the  soil,  those  who  had  always  kept  close  contact 
with  their  mother  Earth,  that  was  suppressing  the  outbreak  of 
the  crazed,  exasperated  part,  the  part  that  had  been  vitiated 
by  the  Empire  and  led  astray  by  vain  illusions  and  empty 
dreams  ;  and  in  the  performance  of  its  duty  it  had  had  to  cut 
deep  into  the  living  flesh,  without  being  fully  aware  of  what 
it  was  doing.  But  the  baptism  of  blood,  French  blood,  was 
necessary  ;  the  abominable  holocaust,  the  living  sacrifice,  in 
the  midst  of  the  purifying  flames.  Now  they  had  mounted 
the  steps  of  the  Calvary  and  known  their  bitterest  agony  ;  the 
crucified  nation  had  expiated  its  faults  and  would  be  born 


560  THE  DOWNFALL. 

again.  "  Jean,  old  friend,  you  and  those  like  you  are  strong  in 
your  simplicity  and  honesty.  Go,  take  up  the  spade  and  the 
trowel,  turn  the  sod  in  the  abandoned  field,  rebuild  the  house  ! 
As  for  me,  you  did  well  to  lop  me  off,  since  I  was  the  ulcer 
that  was  eating  away  your  strength  !  " 

After  that  his  language  became  more  and  more  incoherent ; 
he  insisted  on  rising  and  going  to  sit  by  the  window.  "  Paris 
burns,  Paris  burns  ;  not  a  stone  of  it  will  be  left  standing. 
Ah  !  the  fire  that  I  invoked,  it  destroys,  but  it  heals  ;  yes,  the 
work  it  does  is  good.  Let  me  go  down  there  ;  let  me  help 
to  finish  the  work  of  humanity  and  liberty " 

Jean  had  the  utmost  difficulty  in  getting  him  back  to  bed, 
while  Henriette  tearfully  recalled  memories  of  their  childhood, 
and  entreated  him,  for  the  sake  of  the  love  they  bore  each  other, 
to  be  calm.  Over  the  immensity  of  Paris  the  fiery  glow  deepened 
and  widened  ;  the  sea  of  flame  seemed  to  be  invading  the 
remotest  quarters  of  trie  horizon;  the  heavens  were  like  the 
vaults  of  a  colossal  oven,  heated  to  red  heat.  And  athwart  the 
red  light  of  the  conflagrations  the  dense  black  smoke-clouds 
from  the  Ministry  of  Finance,  which  had  been  burning  three 
days  and  given  forth  no  blaze,  continued  to  pour  in  unbroken, 
slow  procession. 

The  following,  Saturday,  morning  brought  with  it  a  de- 
cided improvement  in  Maurice's  condition  :  he  was  much 
calmer,  the  fever  had  subsided,  and  it  afforded  Jean  inex- 
pressible delight  to  behold  a  smile  on  Henriette's  face  once 
more,  as  the  young  woman  fondly  reverted  to  her  cherished 
dream,  a  pact  of  reciprocal  affection  between  the  three  of 
them,  that  should  unite  them  in  a  future  that  might  yet  be  one 
of  happiness,  under  conditions  that  she  did  not  care  to  form- 
ulate even  to  herself.  Would  destiny  be  merciful  ?  Would  it 
save  them  all  from  an  eternal  farewell  by  saving  her  brother  ? 
Her  nights  were  spent  in  watching  him  ;  she  never  stirred  out- 
side that  chamber,  where  her  noiseless  activity  and  gentle 
ministrations  were  like  a  never-ceasing  caress.  And  Jean, 
that  evening,  while  sitting  with  his  friends,  forgot  his  great 
sorrow  in  a  delight  that  astonished  him  and  made  him  tremble. 
The  troops  had  carried  Belleville  and  the  Buttes-Chaumont 
that  day  ;  the  only  remaining  point  where  there  was  any  resist- 
ance now  was  the  cemetery  of  Pere-Lachaise,  which  had  been 
converted  into  a  fortified  camp.  It  seemed  to  him  that  the 
insurrection  was  ended  ;  he  even  declared  that  the  troops  had 
ceased  to  shoot  their  prisoners,  who  were  being  collected  in 


THE  DOWNFALL.  561 

droves  and  sent  on  to  Versailles.  He  told  of  one  of  those 
bands  that  he  had  seen  that  morning  on  the  quai,  made  up  of 
men  of  every  class,  from  the  most  respectable  to  the  lowest, 
and  of  women  of  all  ages  and  conditions,  wrinkled  old  hags 
and  young  girls,  mere  children,  not  yet  out  of  their  teens  ; 
pitiful  aggregation  of  misery  and  revolt,  driven  like  cattle  by 
the  soldiers  along  the  street  in  the  bright  sunshine,  and  that 
the  people  of  Versailles,  so  it  was  said,  received  with  revilings 
and  blows.  9 

But  Sunday  was  to  Jean  a  day  of  terror.  It  rounded  out 
and  fitly  ended  that  accursed  week.  With  the  triumphant 
rising  of  the  sun  on  that  bright,  warm  Sabbath  morning  he 
shudderingly  heard  the  news  that  was  the  culmination  of  all 
preceding  horrors.  It  was  only  at  that  late  day  that  the 
public  was  informed  of  the  murder  of  the  hostages  ;  the  arch- 
bishop, the  cure  of  the  Madeleine  and  others,  shot  at  la 
Roquette  on  Wednesday,  the  Dominicans  of  Arcueil  coursed 
like  hares  on  Thursday,  more  priests  and  gendarmes,  to  the 
number  of  forty-seven  in  all,  massacred  in  cold  blood  in  the 
Rue  Haxo  on  Friday  ;  and  a  furious  cry  went  up  for  ven- 
geance, the  soldiers  bunched  the  last  prisoners  they  made  and 
shot  them  in  mass.  All  day  long  on  that  magnificent  Sunday 
the  volleys  of  musketry  rang  out  in  the  courtyard  of  the 
Lobau  barracks,  that  were  filled  with  blood  and  smoke  and 
the  groans  of  the  dying.  At  la  Roquette  two  hundred  and 
twenty-seven  miserable  wretches,  gathered  in  here  and  there 
by  the  drag-net  of  the  police,  were  collected  in  a  huddle,  and 
the  soldiers  fired  volley  after  volley  into  the  mass  of  human 
beings  until  there  was  no  further  sign  of  life.  At  Pere- 
Lachaise,  which  had  been  shelled  continuously  for  four  days 
and  was  finally  carried  by  a  hand-to-hand  conflict  among  the 
graves,  a  hundred  and  forty-eight  of  the  insurgents  were 
drawn  up  in  line  before  a  wall,  and  when  the  firing  ceased  the 
stones  were  weeping  great  tears  of  blood  ;  and  three  of  them, 
despite  their  wounds,  having  succeeded  in  making  their 
escape,  they  were  retaken  and  despatched.  Among  the 
twelve  thousand  victims  of  the  Commune,  who  shall  say  how 
many  innocent  people  suffered  for  every  malefactor  who  met 
his  deserts  !  An  order  to  stop  the  executions  had  been  issued 
from  Versailles,  so  it  was  said,  but  none  the  less  the  slaughter 
still  went  on  ;  Thiers,  while  hailed  as  the  savior  of  his  coun- 
try, was  to  bear  the  stigma  of  having  been  the  Jack  Ketch  of 
Paris,  and  Marshal  MacMahon,  the  vanquished  of  Froesch- 


562  THE  DOWNFALL. 

wilier,  whose  proclamation  announcing  the  triumph  of  law  and 
order  was  to  be  seen  on  every  wall,  was  to  receive  the  credit 
of  the  victory  of  Pere-Lachaise.  And  in  the  pleasant  sun- 
shine Paris,  attired  in  holiday  'garb,  appeared  to  be  en  fete  ; 
the  reconquered  streets  were  filled  with  an  enormous  crowd  ; 
men  and  women,  glad  to  breathe  the  air  of  heaven  once  more, 
strolled  leisurely  from  spot  to  spot  to  view  the  smoking  ruins  ; 
mothers,  holding  their  little  children  by  the  hand,  stopped  for 
a  moment  arid  listened  with  an  air  of  interest  to  the  deadened 
crash  of  musketry  from  the  Lobau  barracks. 

When  Jean  ascended  the  dark  staircase  of  the  house  in  the 
Rue  des  Orties,  in  the  gathering  obscurity  of  that  Sunday  even- 
ing, his  heart  was  oppressed  by  a  chill  sense  of  impending  evil. 
He  entered  the  room,  and  saw  at  once  that  the  inevitable  end 
was  come  ;  Maurice  lay  dead  on  the  little  bed  ;  the  hemor- 
rhage predicted  by  Bouroche  had  done  its  work.  The  red 
light  of  the  setting  sun  streamed  through  the  open  window 
and  rested  on  the  wall  as  if  in  a  last  farewell  ;  two  tapers  were 
burning  on  a  table  beside  the  bed.  And  Henriette,  alone  with 
her  dead,  in  her  widow's  weeds  that  she  had  not  laid  aside,  was 
weeping  silently. 

At  the  noise  of  footsteps  she  raised  her  head,  and  shud- 
dered on  beholding  Jean.  He,  in  his  wild  despair,  was  about 
to  hurry  toward  her  and  seize  her  hands,  mingle  his  grief  with 
hers  in  a  sympathetic  clasp,  but  he  saw  the  little  hands  were 
trembling,  he  felt  as  by  instinct  the  repulsion  that  pervaded 
all  her  being  and  was  to  part  them  for  evermore.  Was  not 
all  ended  between  them  now  ?  Maurice's  grave  would  be 
there,  a  yawning  chasm,  to  part  them  as  long  as  they  should 
live.  And  he  could  only  fall  to  his  knees  by  the  bedside  of 
his  dead  friend,  sobbing  softly.  After  the  silence  had  lasted 
some  moments,  however,  Henriette  spoke  : 

"  I  had  turned  my  back  and  was  preparing  a  cup  of  bouil- 
lon, when  he  gave  a  cry.  I  hastened  to  his  side,  but  had 
bare'y  time  to  reach  the  bed  before  he  expired,  with  my  name 
upon  his  lips,  and  yours  as  well,  amid  an  outgush  of  blood ' 

Her  Maurice,  her  twin  brother,  whom  she  might  almost  be 
said  to  have  loved  in  the  prenatal  state,  her  other  self,  whom 
she  had  watched  over  and  saved  !  sole  object  of  her  affection 
since  at  Bazeilles  she  had  seen  her  poor  Weiss  set  against  a 
wall  arxd  shot  to  death  !  And  now  cruel  war  had  done  its 
worst  by  her,  had  crushed  her  bleeding  heart  ;  henceforth  her 
way  through  life  was  to  be  a  solitary  one,  widowed  and  for- 


THE  DOWNFALL.  563 

saken  as  she  was,  with  no  one  upon  whom  to  bestow  her 
love. 

"  Ah,  bon  sang !  "  cried  Jean,  amid  his  sobs,  "behold  my 
work  !  My  poor  little  one,  for  whom  I  would  have  laid  down 
my  life,  and  whom  I  murdered,  brute  that  I  am  !  What  is  to 
become  of  us  ?  Can  you  ever  forgive  me  ?  " 

At  that  moment  their  glances  met,  and  they  were  stricken 
with  consternation  at  what  they  read  in  each  other's  eyes. 
The  past  rose  before  them,  the  secluded  chamber  at  Remilly, 
where  they  had  spent  so  many  melancholy  yet  happy  days. 
His  dream  returned  to  him,  that  dream  of  which  at  first  he 
had  been  barely  conscious  and  which  even  at  a  later  period 
could  not  be  said  to  have  assumed  definite  shape  :  life  down 
there  in  the  pleasant  country  by  the  Meuse,  marriage,  a  little 
house,  a  little  field  to  till  whose  produce  should  suffice  for  the 
needs  of  two  people  whose  ideas  were  not  extravagant.  Now 
the  dream  was  become  an  eager  longing,  a  penetrating  con- 
viction that,  with  a  wife  as  loving  and  industrious  as  she,  exist- 
ence would  be  a  veritable  earthly  paradise.  And  she,  the 
tranquillity  of  whose  mind  had  never  in  those  days  been 
ruffled  by  thoughts  of  that  nature,  in  the  chaste  and  uncon- 
scious bestowal  of  her  heart,  now  saw  clearly  and  understood 
the  true  condition  of  her  feelings.  That  marriage,  of  which 
she  had  not  admitted  to  herself  the  possibility,  had  been, 
unknown  to  her,  the  object  of  her  desire.  The  seed  that  had 
germinated  had  pushed  its  way  in  silence  and  in  darkness  ;  it 
was  love,  not  sisterly  affection,  that  she  bore  toward  that 
young  man"  whose  company  had  at  first  been  to  her  nothing 
more  than  a  source  of  comfort  and  consolation.  And  that  was 
what  their  eyes  told  each  other,  and  the  love  thus  openly 
expressed  could  have  no  other  fruition  than  an  eternal  fare- 
well. It  needed  but  that  frightful  sacrifice,  the  rending  of 
their  heart-strings  by  that  supreme  parting,  the  prospect  of 
their  life's  happiness  wrecked  amid  all  the  other  ruins,  swept 
away  by  the  crimson  tide  that  ended  their  brother's  life. 

With  a  slow  and  painful  effort  Jean  rose  from  his  knees. 

"  Farewell  ! " 

Henriette  stood  motionless  in  her  place. 

"  Farewell !  " 

But  Jean  could  not  tear  himself  away  thus.  Advancing  to 
the  bedside  he  sorrowfully  scanned  the  dead  man's  face,  with 
its  lofty  forehead  that  seemed  loftier  still  in  death,  its  wasted 
features,  its  dull  eyes,  whence  the  wild  look  that  had  occa- 


564  THE  DOWNFALL. 

eionally  been  seen  there  in  life  had  vanished.  He  longed  to 
give  a  parting  kiss  to  his  little  one,  as  he  had  called  him  so 
many  times,  but  dared  not.  It  seemed  to  him  that  his  hands 
were  stained  with  his  friend's  blood  ;  he  shrank  from  the  horror 
of  the  ordeal.  Ah,  what  a  death  to  die,  amid  the  crashing 
ruins  of  a  sinking  world  !  On  the  last  day,  among  the  shat- 
tered fragments  of  the  dying  Commune,  might  not  this  last 
victim  have  been  spared  ?  He  had  gone  from  life,  hungering 
for  justice,  possessed  by  the  dream  that  haunted  him,  the 
sublime  and  unattainable  conception  of  the  destruction  of  the 
old  society,  of  Paris  chastened  by  fire,  of  the  field  dug  up 
anew,  that  from  the  soil  thus  renewed  and  purified  might 
spring  the  idyl  of  another  golden  age. 

His  heart  overflowing  with  bitter  anguish,  Jean  turned  and 
looked  out  on  Paris.  The  setting  sun  lay  on  the  edge  of  the 
horizon,  and  its  level  rays  bathed  the  city  in  a  flood  of  vividly 
red  light.  The  windows  in  thousands  of  houses  flamed  as  if 
lighted  by  fierce  fires  within  ;  the  roofs  glowed  like  beds  of  live 
coals ;  bits  of  gray  wall  and  tall,  sober-hued  monuments 
flashed  in  the  evening  air  with  the  sparkle  of  a  brisk  fire  of 
brushwood.  It  was  like  the  show-piece  that  is  reserved  for 
the  conclusion  of  a  fete,  the  huge  bouquet  of  gold  and  crim- 
son, as  if  Paris  were  burning  like  a  forest  of  old  oaks  and 
soaring  heavenward  in  a  rutilant  cloud  of  sparks  and  flame. 
The  fires  were  burning  still  ;  volumes  of  reddish  smoke  con- 
tinued to  rise  into  the  air  ;  a  confused  murmur  in  the  distance 
sounded  on  the  ear,  perhaps  the  last  groans  of  the  dying 
Communists  at  the  Lobau  barracks,  or  it  may  have  been  the 
happy  laughter  of  women  and  children,  ending  their  pleasant 
afternoon  by  dining  in  the  open  air  at  the  doors  of  the  wine- 
shops. And  in  the  midst  of  all  the  splendor  of  that  royal 
sunset,  while  a  large  part  of  Paris  was  crumbling  away  in 
ashes,  from  plundered  houses  and  gutted  palaces,  from  the 
torn-up  streets,  from  the  depths  of  all  that  ruin  and  suffering, 
came  sounds  of  life. 

Then  Jean  had  a  strange  experience.  It  seemed  to  him  that 
in  the  slowly  fading  daylight,  above  the  roofs  of  that  flaming 
city,  he  beheld  the  dawning  of  another  day.  And  yet  the  sit- 
uation might  well  be  considered  irretrievable.  Destiny  ap- 
peared to  have  pursued  them  with  her  utmost  fury  ;  the  suc- 
cessive disasters  they  had  sustained  were  such  as  no  nation  in 
history  had  ever  known  before  :  defeat  treading  on  the  heels 
of  defeat,  their  provinces  torn  from  them,  an  indemnity  of 


THE  DOWNFALL.  565 

milliards  to  be  raised,  a  most  horrible  civil  war  that  had  been 
quenched  in  blood,  their  streets  cumbered  with  ruins  and  un- 
buried  corpses,  without  money,  their  honor  gone,  and  order  to 
be  re-established  out  of  chaos  !  His  share  of  the  universal 
ruin  was  a  heart  lacerated  by  the  loss  of  Maurice  and  Hen- 
riette,  the  prospect  of  a  happy  future  swept  away  in  the  fu- 
rious storm.  And  still,  beyond  the  flames  of  that  furnace 
whose  fiery  glow  had  not  subsided  yet,  Hope,  the  eternal,  sat 
enthroned  in  the  limpid  serenity  of  the  tranquil  heavens.  It 
was  the  certain  assurance  of  the  resurrection  of  perennial 
nature,  of  imperishable  humanity  ;  the  harvest  that  is  promised 
to  him  who  sows  and  waits ;  the  tree  throwing  out  a  new  and 
vigorous  shoot  to  replace  the  rotten  limb  that  has  been  lopped 
away,  which  was  blighting  the  young  leaves  with  its  vitiated 
sap. 

"  Farewell  !  "  Jean  repeated  with  a  soh 

"  Farewell !  "  murmured  Henriette,  her  bowed  face  hidden 
in  her  hands. 

The  neglected  field  was  overgrown  with  brambles,  the  roof- 
tree  of  the  ruined  house  lay  on  the  ground  ;  and  Jean,  bearing 
his  heavy  burden  of  affliction  with  humble  resignation,  went 
his  way,  his  face  set  resolutely  toward  the  future,  toward  the 
glorious  and  arduous  task  that  lay  before  him  and  his  coun- 
trymen, to  create  a  new  France. 


THE   END. 


LOAN  PERIOD  1 
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